Riley Williams, a far-right extremist was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for storming the US Capitol and directing a mob toward the office of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, where another rioter stole a laptop. In his speech, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson called Williams’ action “utterly reprehensible.”
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In November, federal prosecutors argued at trial that Williams “led an army” up a set of stairs toward Pelosi’s office and was present when rioters swiped the laptop that the California Democrat kept in her conference room and used for “all her Zoom meetings.”
She was convicted in November of several counts including resisting or impeding an officer, civil disorder, and disorderly conduct in the Capitol building and grounds.
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Who is Riley Williams?
Riley Williams is a woman who went inside the US Capitol during the storming of the Capitol building by the supporters of the outgoing President of the US, Donald Trump, on January 6, 2021. She was born in 1999.
Williams worked as a care worker at Keystone Human Services, a home health care agency in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Her father lives in Camp Hill, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
According to her mother, Williams became involved in the America First movement in 2020. She was taken by her father to see Trump’s initial Save America March but became separated as the crowd became riotous and started to March on the Capitol. Inside the building, she was seen telling other rioters where to go by saying “up the stairs, up the stairs”. However, her mother and father say she was a peaceful protester who got lost in the crowd.
Williams’ online texts and posts after the riot, where she bragged about her strategy that day and falsely claimed she stole Pelosi’s hard drive, were used against her in a trial.
She has already served four months of prison in her term. She was ordered jailed immediately after her conviction at trial in November.
