Updated October 9, October 7, August 27, August 8, July 31, and July 30, 2025
Robert “Jacob” Hoopes, a Portland, Oregon man with ties to Newtown (Pa.) Meeting was arrested by FBI agents on Friday, July 25, and charged with aggravated assault of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, KATU, the ABC affiliate in Portland, reported.
During a June 14 protest, Hoopes allegedly threw rocks at the ICE building in South Portland, one of which hit an ICE agent in the face, cutting him, KATU reported. He allegedly used a stop sign as a battering ram to do approximately $7,000 worth of damage to the building.
Jacob Hoopes spent the weekend in two jails operated by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, according to a statement posted on Instagram by his partner Fable Sorenson. Sorenson detailed the arrest, “At around 9 a.m. on Friday morning, July 25, Jacob and I looked out our bedroom window to see a flood of armed officers race into our driveway and charge at our house with assault rifles.” Sorenson recounted that she and Hoopes were “screamed at, handcuffed, and put on the street in our underwear.” Sorenson’s Instagram account has since been made private.
The FBI agents and Portland police conducting the arrest did not present an arrest warrant before placing Jacob Hoopes into a car, according to Sorenson’s statement.
“Jacob is a pacifist Quaker who is the most compassionate, loving, gentle person I have ever met,” Sorenson wrote.
The judge released Jacob Hoopes after a preliminary hearing on Monday, July 28, according to a video of him posted on Sorenson’s Instagram. Dressed in a blue-gray long-sleeved shirt and plaid pants, Jacob Hoopes said, “Hi, folks. I’m free.” He went on to thank supporters, explain that he had signed numerous papers—the content of which he did not specify—and explain that he was wearing an ankle monitor.
Magistrate Judge Youlee Yim You presided over the hearing, according to KATU.
Jacob Hoopes is scheduled to be arraigned on August 15, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. At an arraignment, a suspect hears charges and enters a plea.
Supporters rallied at a park across the street from the courthouse where the hearing took place. Jacob’s father, Tom Hoopes, who worships with Newtown Meeting and works at George School, spoke to supporters. Many Friends in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) and across the country held Jacob Hoopes in the Light and joined a Zoom meeting for worship at the time of his hearing. George School is a Quaker boarding and day school in Newtown, Pa.
“The love and support from our extended community—especially the Quaker community—has been extraordinary and incredibly supportive. It played a crucial role in convincing the judge that Jacob should be released yesterday. My gratitude knows no bounds,” Tom Hoopes told Friends Journal.
The son of Christie Duncan-Tessmer, general secretary of PYM, is a year younger than Jacob Hoopes. Duncan-Tessmer’s family and Hoopes’ family socialized together when the children were little. She recalls Jacob as full of “joyful energy.”
Duncan-Tessmer noted that holding Jacob Hoopes in the Light impacted not only him but also those who participated. “It strengthens our experience as individuals, and as a community, of the Divine,” Duncan-Tessmer said.
Press officers of the FBI and ICE directed this reporter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Portland. A USAO press release stated that the 24-year-old could face a sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted of the aggravated assault charge. The charges related to damaging the federal building could carry a 10-year sentence.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by an FBI special agent whose name was redacted, the injured ICE officer, who was also not named, stated that on June 14 he was on duty inside the building. He tried to remove something obstructing the door. When he opened the door, he saw a person he later identified as Jacob Hoopes throw a rock through the entrance. The rock hit him in the head causing a two-inch cut for which he received first aid from coworkers. Coworkers used glue, adhesive sutures, and bandages in attempts to close the wound. The officer required additional treatment.
The injured officer identified the person who he said threw the rock in a photo of the protest published by The Oregonian on OregonLive.com in which Jacob Hoopes’s face was visible, as was a tattoo of leaves on his left forearm, according to the affidavit. The photo showed the person taking care of a protester who was apparently injured. (The affidavit did not specify how the protester was injured.) Investigators used commercially available facial recognition software to compare the photo to 30 photos in public databases. They found one from a Reed College event that showed a man resembling Jacob Hoopes with a tattoo of leaves on his left forearm. The software also provided an Instagram account with a profile associated with Jacob Hoopes. The FBI officer contacted the Reed College Director of Community Safety, who provided Hoopes’s address. Hoopes graduated from Reed College in Portland in 2023, the affidavit states. The FBI special officer used binoculars to observe the outside of the house and saw a person he believed to be Hoopes on the porch. The officer noted a tattoo of leaves on the person’s left forearm. The FBI placed the house under surveillance on July 10 and took a photo of a man with a tattoo of leaves.
The affidavit concludes with a request that the court issue a criminal complaint and grant an arrest warrant. The affidavit is signed by Judge You.
Jacob Hoopes’s attorney, Matthew McHenry, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday, July 29.
July 31 Update: Reed College President Audrey Bilger wrote in a July 29 statement addressed to the Reed community: “The Director of Community Safety’s actions related to sharing information with law enforcement are under formal review. This inquiry will be thorough and conducted with urgency and fairness by a third-party investigator.”
The statement was provided by the college’s chief communications officer, Sheena McFarland, who added that the college would not make additional comments. The college’s website lists Gary Granger as director of community safety.
August 8 Update: According to court transcripts from the preliminary hearing, Gary Sussman, the attorney for the U.S. government, played a video clip of an individual he identified as Jacob Hoopes placing a scooter against the door of the ICE building. The person then threw a rock into the open door of the building, according to the transcript. Sussman said the rock hit the ICE agent.
This reporter has not seen the video clip, or the video in its entirety, and was not present at the preliminary hearing.
Hoopes’s attorney, Matthew McHenry, stated that the person in the video has not been proven to be Jacob Hoopes, according to court transcripts.
Denying Sussman’s request to keep Jacob Hoopes incarcerated until his arraignment, Judge You ordered the least restrictive of several possible programs of pre-trial release. Hoopes must wear a location monitor on his ankle which will ensure that he does not return to the area of the ICE building.
August 27 Update: Hoopes pled not guilty to both charges, according to court transcripts of his August 15 arraignment before Judge Stacie F. Beckerman. A three-day jury trial is slated to begin October 7, at which Judge Adrienne Nelson will preside.
McHenry requested that the court re-seal the government’s complaint against Hoopes because it contained his address. Sussman objected to re-sealing the indictment. Both sides agreed that a redacted indictment omitting Hoopes’s address would be filed with the court clerk.
October 7 Update: Gary Granger, the Reed College director of community safety who gave authorities Hoopes’s contact information, received a notice of termination on September 26; his firing was effective on October 1, The Oregonian reported. In a September 26 statement emailed to the Reed College community, Vice President for Student Life Karnell McConnell-Black wrote:
Following a thorough review, we will be working to identify a new Director of Community Safety. While we cannot comment on personnel matters in detail, we want to affirm that this process has been informed by our values, including the privacy and trust of our community members.
Chief Communications Officer Sheena McFarland provided the statement to Friends Journal.
October 9 Update: The trial has been continued, with a new start date of December 16, according to court staff. Defense attorney McHenry requested the continuance because he received the first volume of the government’s discovery materials on October 1 and needed more time to review them, according to a declaration filed with the court.
This story was originally posted on July 29 under the title “FBI Agents Seize Quaker Activist from His Home in Morning Raid.” This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Just because he was in the area pictured giving aid to a protestor who was injured, does NOT mean they have evidence he threw the rock that injured the officer and damaged the building. I highly doubt a Quaker with his background would do this. I look forward to more details.
He was not only IDed by the officer he injured but they have tape of him throwing the rocks as well as using the stop sign to damage the facility. His tattoo is a clear secondary identifier. It’s pretty much a slam dunk case. Your “doubt” that a Quaker couldn’t do this is some crackpot false belief that religious people would never hurt a fly. Let me remind you that people often kill for their religious beliefs, let alone throw rocks.
So suppose that he did throw a rock and hit an officer of the Court. The officer was injured enough to need medical attention. If that is true, a response of how many officers earning what per hour carrying long guns raiding his house. That is beyond excessive, beyond reasonable beyond belief . Have the FBI nothing better to do these days. Not enough cyber crying for them? Not enough real criminal activity,? I thought crime is up all over the country and that’s why the current occupant of the oval room is carrying on like his hair’s on fire. Two patrolman and a squad car could have went and picked him up. Why the Kabuki theater? Quite a waste of resources human and monetary.