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A Pennsylvania woman linked to a far-right extremist movement was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for the attack on the US Capitol, where she stormed the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi along with others. rioters.
Riley June Williams, 23, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was charged but not convicted of helping steal a laptop from Pelosi’s office suite during the riot on January 6, 2021.
A federal jury convicted Williams in November on six charges, including a felony count of civil disorder, after a two-week trial. But it was deadlocked on two other counts, including “aiding and abetting” the theft of the laptop.
The jury also deadlocked on the charge of obstructing an official proceeding, the joint session of Congress on January 6 for certifying the victory of the election of President Joe Biden in 2020. Vice President Mike Pence and the former member of Congress evacuated the House and Senate chambers when rioters attacked the Capitol.
Prosecutors asked US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson to sentence Williams to seven years and three months in prison.
“Wherever he went, Williams acted as an accelerant, exacerbating the chaos. Where others turned back, he pushed forward,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Defense attorneys requested a prison term of one year and one day for Williams, who turns 22 in January 2021.
“In some respects, she is very different from the average defendant on January 6 – mainly because of her youth and that she is a woman,” they wrote. “In other ways he is similar to many other defendants on January 6 without a prior criminal record, who were caught by the mob that day, who acted on impulse and did not consider the consequences of their actions.”
Jackson also sentenced Williams to three years of supervised release after his prison term and ordered him to pay $2,000 in restitution, according to the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.
Williams was an ardent supporter of the white nationalist “Groyper” movement led by internet personality Nick Fuentes, according to prosecutors. They said Williams was “obsessed” with Fuentes and pointed to baseless claims — advanced by Fuentes — that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Williams’ attorneys argued that his political beliefs should not be a factor in his sentencing. They say the First Amendment protects his interests in Fuentes and his “Groyper Army” of followers.
Fuentes has used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white supremacist rhetoric. In November, former President Trump dined at his Mar-a-Lago club with Fuentes and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, now known as Ye.
Some followers of Fuentes have been charged with January 6-related crimes, including former UCLA student Christian Secor, who waved a flag associated with Fuentes’ movement when he entered the Capitol. Secor was sentenced last year to three years and six months in prison.
Williams wore a green “I’m with Groyper” T-shirt when she traveled to Washington, DC, with her father and friends on January 6. They attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally before going to the Capitol. Williams entered the building through the Senate Wing Door two minutes after other rioters broke through the entrance.
Williams used the men wearing helmets and body armor like a “human battering ram,” pushing them forward to break through police lines inside the Capitol, prosecutors said. Entering Pelosi’s main conference room, he stole a gavel and encouraged another rioter to grab a laptop from a table, according to prosecutors.
“As another rioter later manipulated the laptop and its cords, Williams filmed the robbery he had just ordered and encouraged, further ordering the rioter, ‘Dude, put on some gloves!’ ” prosecutors wrote.
Williams then went to the Rotunda, where he shouted insults at the police and urged other rioters to join him in pushing back against the officers.
Williams spent nearly 90 minutes at the Capitol. After leaving, he climbed onto the roof of a parked police car.
Williams destroyed evidence before his arrest, deleted his social media accounts, reset his iPhone and used software to wipe his computer, according to prosecutors.
Williams bragged online that he stole Pelosi’s gavel, laptop and hard drive and that he “gave the electronic devices, or attempted to give them, to unspecified Russian individuals,” prosecutors said in a court filing in June 2022.
“As of now, neither the laptop nor the gavel has been recovered,” they added.
A witness described as a former romantic partner of Williams told the FBI that he intended to send the stolen laptop or hard drive to a friend in Russia who planned to sell it to Russia’s foreign intelligence service. But the witness said Williams kept the device or destroyed it when the transfer went down, according to the FBI.
When questioned by the FBI, Williams denied stealing the laptop. He accused the ex-boyfriend of making up the accusation.
Williams was taken into custody after a jury convicted him on Nov. 21.
An estimated 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riots. More than 400 were sentenced, with more than half of them receiving prison terms ranging from seven days to 10 years.
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