A 28-year-old Silver Spring man has been released on bail after being arrested and charged with assault and battery for an incident at the Clarendon Metro station Sunday.
Bryan Betancur was arrested after videos showed someone touching women’s hair on Metro trains were livestreamed and posted on social media. The videos appeared on an X account belonging to “BryanBetan75949.”
Betancur, who served time for his part in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol and was pardoned by President Donald Trump, is expected back in Arlington’s General District Court for a hearing on Monday, March 9.
One of the conditions of Betancur’s release is that he may not access or use any social media.
The news of Betancur’s arrest comes as a relief to freelance reporter Amanda Moore, who told WTOP that Betancur has been stalking her since 2024.
“He’s followed me places, he has followed me out of state, he’ll go sit in front of my gym — that kind of stuff,” Moore said.
Moore, who said she hasn’t filed stalking charges against Betancur because she doesn’t have faith in the court system to do anything about his behavior, said seeing the videos of the hair-touching incidents “felt like an escalation, just because he was filming himself doing it and then putting it online.”
Officials with the Metro Transit Police Department have not said whether Betancur is the person filming himself touching women’s hair, but they did confirm that Betancur has been banned from Metro.
Metro Transit Police also said there’s an ongoing investigation, and they are asking anyone with information about the case, or any other potential offenses, to contact them.
There is no indication of whether Betancur has an attorney representing him, according to court documents.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
