Woman Who Entered Capitol In Riot Wins GOP Primary In Doylestown

DOYLESTOWN, PA — A woman who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge after entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has won a Republican primary in Doylestown Borough.

Uncertified results from the Bucks County Board of Elections show Dawn Bancroft beat Danielle Labrake in the race for borough committeewoman, second district. Bancroft got 101 votes, and Labrake received 90, according to current results from the county.

Bancroft, who owns Bucks Elite Fitness (formerly Cross Fit Sine-Pari), pleaded guilty last year to federal misdemeanor charges after she entered the U.S. Capitol during the Capitol riot. Bancroft told the FBI last year that she entered the U.S. Capitol during the riot through a broken window and estimated she was inside the building for about 30 seconds.

She admitted to a class B misdemeanor, which covers parading, demonstrating and picketing inside any of the Capitol buildings, court records show.

RELATED: Doylestown Woman Admits To Entering US Capitol During Jan. 6 Riot

Bancroft also encouraged violence against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a video that she sent to to a friend, according to federal prosecutors. The friend forwarded the video to the FBI, records show.

Bancroft told a federal judge last fall that her remark toward Pelosi was a "stupid, juvenile comment" and that she did not mean to threaten the longtime Democratic leader, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Federal prosecutors said they did not pursue more-serious charges because the video Bancroft filmed showed she was leaving the Capitol as she made the threat, the Inquirer reported at the time.

"Ms. Bancroft’s comments were not made directly to the Speaker, nor was she in the vicinity of the Speaker," her lawyer, Carina Laguzzi, wrote in a February filing. "She was not speaking to a group. Bancroft is seen, and heard, laughing in the video — with not even the slightest hint of anger in her voice and demeanor. It was not made on a public forum, and the intention was to share it with just one person."

Federal court records show Bancroft will be sentenced May 26; the sentencing was originally scheduled for January.

She has received death threats and her business "lost its CrossFit designation the day after her arrest was made public," Laguzzi wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed Feb. 28.