39°
Riley June Williams was not charged with theft, rather knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on U.S Capitol grounds, federal authorities said.
A caller claiming to be an ex-partner of Williams said friends of hers showed him a YouTube video that's since been removed of her taking a laptop computer or hard drive from Pelosi's office, FBI Special Agent Jonathan Lund said in an affidavit.
Lund identified Williams in the 32-minute-long video, where she was seen repeatedly yelling, “upstairs, upstairs, upstairs,” and can be seen physically directing other intruders to proceed up a staircase that was later revealed to be the staircase that leads to Pelosi's office.
Lund also obtained now-deleted footage where Williams was seen entering the U.S Capitol with the same clothing she was wearing in the first video, according to the affidavit.
The ex stated that Williams intended to send the computer to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service. They later mentioned that the transfer of the computer to Russia fell through and was unsure if Williams kept or destroyed the device, according to the affidavit.
Pelosi's deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, confirmed in a tweet Jan. 8 that a laptop was taken from a conference room but said, "It was a laptop that was only used for presentations."
FBI officials also interviewed Williams' father who lives in Camp Hill, where he told authorities that he drove to and from the riot on Capitol Hill with his daughter, but they were separated throughout the day, the affidavit says.
In a YouTube video released by ITV News on Jan. 16, a reporter spoke to a woman who said she was Willams' mother and identified her daughter by name, the affidavit says.
According to her mother, Williams rarely mentioned politics but took a sudden interest in President Donald J. Trump and far-right message boards during the last year, the affidavit says.
Williams deleted her Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Telegram, and Parler accounts after the Capitol Hill attack and had already fled her mother's Harrisburg apartment by the time authorities went there Saturday, the affidavit says.
Williams is currently awaiting arraignment at the Dauphin County Prison.
More than 125 people have been arrested so far in connection with the attack on the U.S Capitol, on charges from curfew violations to federal felonies, according to The Associated Press.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Ridgefield Park-Hasbrouck Heights and receive free news updates.
