Former West Virginia official pleads not guilty for participating in Capitol attack.

To the Parkersburg City Council in 2016, Eric Barber was selected.

A former Parkersburg city councilman pleaded not guilty this week to charges related to the Jan.6 robbery of the Capitol of the United States, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel reported.

Eric Barber, 42, of Washington, D.C., appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper Wednesday via video.

Barber’s attorney, Ubong Akpan, pleaded not guilty on his behalf to the charges of entering and staying in a restricted building or land; Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a building or restricted grounds; Disorderly conduct on a Capitol building or grounds; parade, demonstrate, or stand guard in a Capitol building; and robbery.

In an interview with the newspaper on the day of the riots, the barber claimed that he had approached the building to look out the window but had not entered.

Still, the criminal objection declares that the photo and security video shows the barber inside the Capitol in a “green military-style field jacket, green fighter-style helmet.

In said video examined by the police, the barber was recorded saying: They are giving us the building,” and that images were taken in the Rotunda of the Capitol.

In Statuary Hall, It is also declared that he took a portable power station from a C-SPAN media station.

In 2016 Barber was selected as a Democrat to the Parkersburg City Council. He changed his registration to independent a year later, then changed it back to Republican before losing his re-election bid last November. His previous criminal history included convictions for burglary, petty theft, possession of controlled substances, drunk driving, and fleeing arrest. Later, as a council member, his driver’s license was denied for marijuana charges, and in a separate event, he was declared guilty of murder.

Barber remains free on a personal recognition bond.

More than 300 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the insurrection, which was fueled by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen. The protesters who stormed the Capitol stopped the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory, but lawmakers completed their constitutional duties hours later.