Before prison, convicted Jan. 6 defendant was working as a home inspector
GRAPEVINE (CBSNewsTexas.com) — To sell her home in Grapevine, Brittany Bemben allowed a buyer to have it inspected.
She came home a couple weeks ago, as the inspector was wrapping up, to find his politics proudly—and profanely—on display.
"His truck was a white pickup truck that had bumper stickers on the back of it," she said. "There was one that said 'Joe and the (expletive) must go,' and I thought that was interesting on a work truck."
When she encountered the man in her home, Bemben said she was left with an eerie feeling she'd seen him before, so she looked up his name.
"I was in absolute shock," she said.
The inspector was Larry Brock, Jr., a Grapevine man recently convicted on six charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
A video posted online shows him walking out of then Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, wearing a helmet and tactical vest. Pictures show him in the U.S. Senate Chamber holding zip tie handcuffs.
"I feel violated," said Bemben.
She said her 4-year-old daughter and her au pair were at home during the inspection, something she never would have allowed if she'd known who would be there.
"This gentleman, with his best judgement, broke into the peoples' house and did it in a forceful way," she said. "What if he comes across someone else he doesn't agree with politically?"
According to court records, Brock applied to become a home inspector after losing his job as a commercial pilot because of his arrest and the media attention that followed.
He got his license in May of 2021.
In Texas, home inspectors are licensed by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC). On its website, a "frequently asked question" is "What happens if a license holder is convicted of a crime?"
According to TREC, if that crime involves fraud, the license holder has 30 days to report the conviction and TREC may revoke or suspend their license as a result. It doesn't mention other types of crime.
A spokesperson, though, wrote CBS News Texas, saying "If a license holder goes to prison for a felony, TREC is required by law to revoke that person's license."
Brock requested release while awaiting appeal and has not yet begun his two-year sentence.
TREC would not disclose if Brock had reported his conviction, calling details involving his license "confidential."
"We're going to be looking in every nook and cranny," said TruVision Inspections owner Ryan Cantrell, describing the role of an inspector.
Cantrell said inspectors are granted a lot of access and should be trustworthy.
"Someone is entrusting you to walk through their home," he said.
It's natural, he said, to believe those licensed by the state wouldn't have troubling criminal records.
"The assumption by, I would say, the general public is that [an inspector] is a morally, ethical, upstanding citizen that is abiding by the laws of the land," said Cantrell.
It's certainly what Bemben expected.
"I maybe naively trusted the State of Texas and the protections, especially the protections that TREC has for home inspectors, but shame on me because they're clearly either allowing him to do this or he slipped through the cracks," she said.
Brock did not respond to a request for comment through his attorney.
A federal judge last week ruled against Brock's request to remain out pending appeal, but agreed to give him until May 29 to report to prison. According to the TREC website, his inspector's license, for now, remains active."
