Feds preparing to charge woman with felony theft of laptop from Pelosi’s office

Federal prosecutors are preparing to charge a 22-year-old woman with felony theft for allegedly taking a laptop from Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, and they're urging a Harrisburg-area judge to deny her bail.

Riley June Williams — who was already facing misdemeanor charges for her presence in the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attacks, while insurrectionists and rioters swarmed the building — was arrested Monday after first fleeing police. The initial evidence against her included witness testimony suggesting Riley had told friends she planned to sell Pelosi's laptop to Russian intelligence.

But the first batch of charges did not include the theft, which the FBI indicated remains under investigation.

By elevating the case against Williams, prosecutors are indicating they believe she is the culprit behind the theft of a laptop from Pelosi's office, despite conflicting indications from other rioters and social media posts. Aides to Pelosi say the laptop was only used for presentations.

The impending new charges are an indication of the fast-moving efforts by prosecutors to build on some of the quick initial charges they lodged against Capitol rioters. FBI and Justice Department officials indicated they mounted quick cases to round up some of the insurrectionists and participants in the riots and intended to add more serious charges over time.

A hearing on whether Williams should be detained while awaiting trial is scheduled for Thursday. Williams' attorney Lori Ulrich protested the delay, noting that her client has remained in jail since Monday.

According to the initial case against Williams, a former romantic partner who spoke to authorities claimed to have seen a video of Williams "taking a laptop computer or hard drive from Speaker Pelosi’s office."

"[Witness 1] stated that WILLIAMS intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service," the agent noted. "According to [Witness 1], the transfer of the computer device to Russia fell through for unknown reasons and WILLIAMS still has the computer device or destroyed it."

"This matter remains under investigation," the agent concluded.

For now, Williams is facing charges of entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct for her actions inside the Capitol.

The agent handling Williams' case also spoke to law enforcement officials in Harrisburg who had recently interacted with Williams' parents. Williams' mother on Jan. 11 filed a suspicious persons report against the person the FBI has identified as "Witness 1." That witness is described as a former romantic partner of the suspect.

While local officers were present, Williams' mother called her via video, and officers saw her wearing a brown jacket that matched the one she was seen wearing in images from the Jan. 6 riots. Harrisburg officers also spoke with Williams' father, who said he drove with her to Washington for the protests but that they split up for the day while she joined other friends.

The pair drove home from Washington after meeting outside the Capitol.

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors also unveiled some of the first conspiracy charges related to the riot, alleging that three members of a right-wing militia group called the Oath Keepers conspired to obstruct the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college win at the Capitol on Jan. 6. The group is a loose-knit paramilitary organization that recruits current and former military, law enforcement and public safety personnel, according to prosecutors.

A criminal complaint charged Thomas Caldwell of Virginia, as well as Donovan Crowl and Jessica Watkins of Ohio, with four felony charges including conspiracy to obstruct Congress, conspiracy to injure or impede law enforcement and destruction of government property.

Citing social media posts, news stories, communications over a walkie-talkie-like app called Zello, FBI Special Agent Michael Palian alleged that the three crafted a plan for the Capitol takeover. He also reports that during a court-ordered search of Watkins home on Sunday authorities recovered a flyer entitled, “Making Plastic Explosives from Bleach.”

Caldwell, 66, allegedly used Facebook to propose the group stay at a particular hotel in the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington, Va. from Jan. 5 to 7. “This is a good location and would allow us to hunt at night if we wanted to,” Caldwell wrote, according to the complaint.

During a court hearing in Harrisonburg, Va. Tuesday afternoon, a magistrate judge ordered Caldwell detained pending trial after a federal prosecutor argued that Caldwell might pose a danger and obstruct justice if released.

“The nature of these offenses is obviously one that is very much directed at the fabric of our democracy,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh said.

Kavanaugh noted that video taken before the charge on the Capitol shows Caldwell declaring, “Every single [legislator] in there is a traitor. Every single one!”

Kavanaugh also read the court several chilling Facebook messages from the day of the riot. He said Caldwell received a message saying, “All members are in the tunnels under capital seal them in. Turn on gas” During the same exchange, with someone not publicly named, Caldwell also received this message “Tom all legislators are down in the Tunnels 3floors down.”

The prosecutor said Caldwell and the other defendants will probably face even more serious charges.

“It is very much likely that additional charges are going to be on the table in these cases, such as the federal Anti-Riot Act, sedition and other charges,” Kavanaugh added.

A public defender representing Caldwell, Lisa Lorish, noted that Caldwell is an honorably discharged Navy veteran, that he incurred a spinal cord injury while in the military and that he has medical conditions that would put him at high risk if he caught Covid-19 while in jail.

Lorish also said most of the evidence in the case could be considered “blustering.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe sided with the government and used stark language to tell Caldwell that the charges against him are extraordinarily grave.

“The conduct and statements of Mr. Caldwell and the others are really just pure lawlessness and contempt for the laws of this country,” Hoppe said. “It is a crime of the utmost seriousness. It threatens the very foundations of our country.”

Hoppe said it would be hard for him to imagine that Caldwell would abide by pretrial release conditions, given his alleged disregard for the law. “I think I do have to detain Mr. Caldwell,” the judge said.

Crowl, 50, and Watkins, 38, who are affiliated with an Oath Keepers chapter known as the Ohio State Regular Militia, were booked into the Montgomery County Jail in Ohio early Monday, according to jail records. Court officials and Justice Department spokespeople did not immediately respond to inquiries about their status.

In another of the flurry of court appearances across the country Tuesday stemming from the Capitol riot, University of Kentucky senior Gracyn Courtright went before a magistrate judge in federal court in Charleston, W.Va.

Courtright, 20, of Hurricane, W. Va., faces four misdemeanor charges related to the Jan. 6 unrest, including a charge that she stole a “Members Only” pedestal sign while in the Capitol. Surveillance video shows her carrying the sign on a stairway near the Senate chamber before the sign was taken away from her by a police officer.

Courtright was released on an unsecured, $10,000 personal recognizance bond. Magistrate Judge Dwayne Tinsley ordered Courtright to stay in the Southern District of West Virginia, but she will be permitted to travel into Kentucky to attend college classes, court records show.