PA Woman Who Broke Into Pelosi's Office Sentenced To 3 Years In Prison

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The young Pennsylvania woman who helped break into Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on Jan. 6, and whose age and actions brought her notoriety and made her one of the iconic faces of the insurrection, has been sentenced to three years in prison, a judge ruled on Thursday.

Riley June Williams, 23, of Harrisburg, had been convicted in November with interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder and related counts. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C.

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The charges she was convicted of held a maximum penalty of up to 25 years behind bars. Prosecutors had sought at least 7.

Williams was among the mob that broke into the Capitol through the Senate Wing door at about 2:15 p.m. on Jan. 6, the U.S Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia said.

Authorities said Williams "directed" other rioters, pushed against officers, and recorded videos of the incident. Once in Pelosi's office, Williams filmed the theft of the laptop, authorities said. It was initially believed that Williams had stolen it herself, and she was investigated for months under possible suspicion of selling it to Russia.

According to investigators, a tipster told the FBI that Williams intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell it to SVR, Russia's foreign intelligence service, the affidavit said.

Williams fled after Jan. 6, deleting all of her social media profiles and losing contact with friends and family, officials said. She was arrested on Jan. 18 in Harrisburg.

Lawyers for Williams had argued she was not aware of the consequences of her actions. In a letter her mother wrote to Judge Jackson and shared publicly in court documents related to the case, she said that it was a blessing in disguise that Williams had been ordered to stay off the Internet, which she implied had radicalized her for a time.

"She longs for a simple life," her mother wrote. "Her dream for the future is to have a large plot of land, a large family, lots of vegetables and fruits growing in a garden, and farm animals to raise for their own consumption."

Prosecutors eschewed claims of Williams' ignorance or relative innocence, despite her age.

"(She was not) an impulsive Gen-Z gadfly," Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Dalke said in court, according to NBC News. "She participated in domestic terrorism, plain and simple."

Some 900 individuals nationwide have been arrested in all 50 states for actions during the Capitol riot, with 275, including Williams, charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. More than 60 Pennsylvanians face criminal charges related to the day's events.