Jan. 6 rioter charged with stealing Nancy Pelosi's laptop and gavel sentenced to 3 years

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Riley June Williams of Pennsylvania to three years in prison for her role in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. Williams, 24, was convicted on six counts last November, including felony civil disorder and impeding officers trying to defend the Capitol, but the jury deadlocked on two other charges: obstruction of an official proceeding and "aiding and abetting" the theft of a laptop taken from then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the riot.
Prosecutors said in a court filing that everywhere she went on Jan. 6, "Williams acted as an accelerant, exacerbating the mayhem." During her 90 minutes inside the Capitol, she handpicked large men wearing helmets and body armor and used them like a "human battering ram" to break through police lines and into Pelosi's office. Once inside the office, prosecutors said, she stole a gavel and "commanded and encouraged" others to steal the laptop, then "further instructed the rioter, 'Dude, put on gloves!'"
Williams allegedly bragged online about stealing the laptop, gavel, and hard drives, and a witness who had been romantically involved with her told the FBI that Williams planned to send the laptop to a friend in Russia for sale to Russian intelligence. Williams then erased her phone and used commercial-grade software to wipe her laptop, successfully blocking investigators from accessing text messages and social media posts, prosecutors said, noting: "To date, neither the laptop nor the gavel has been recovered."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Williams said Thursday that she had been "addicted to the internet" before the riot and was seeking validation from family and peers, adding, "I barely recognize the stupid girl who was yelling at police." Judge Amy Berman Jackson rejected that argument, describing Williams as acting "like a coxswain on a crew team" during the riot, directing rioters "from the minute she got in." Williams "was not just a little waif blowing in the wind," she added.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of seven years and three months for Williams, noting her "obsession" with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and his Groyper Army. Her lawyers had asked for a year and a day. Along with the three years in prison, Jackson also sentenced Williams to three years of supervised release afterward, ordered her to pay $2,000 in restitution, and said contact with Fuentes or other political figures would be considered a violation of her release terms.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Icarus programme – the ‘internet of animals’
The Explainer Researchers aim to monitor 100,000 animals worldwide with GPS trackers, using data to understand climate change and help predict disasters and pandemics
-
Experience Tanzania’s untamed wilderness from Lemala’s luxury lodges
The Week Recommends The vast protected landscapes are transformed into a verdant paradise during ‘emerald season’
-
Sudoku hard: October 9, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-off
Speed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US