Army vet who tended to bar accused by FBI of conspiring in the Capitol uprising

When the FBI arrived in Woodstock, Watkins was not there. Her boyfriend, Montana Siniff was. He told CNN disorienting flash bangs were used. A window has been broken. It remained so a few days later.

FBI agents interrogated him and eventually left, he said. In a lawsuit filed in court, federal prosecutors said agents had recovered what “appear to be instructions for making explosives, written by the ‘Jolly Roger.’ Jolly Roger is also the name of Watkins’ bar and a Facebook account believed to be linked to her, authorities say.

“This is totally wrong. She hates explosives. There is no moral or legal way to actually use explosives as an ordinary citizen,” Siniff said.

Watkins, 38, is now being held at Montgomery County Jail, about 80 miles from Dayton, after surrendering to authorities last Sunday.

Records show that Watkins served in the military under a different name from April 2001 to December 2003. She was deployed to Afghanistan from September to December 2002.

The three veterans were the first to face conspiracy charges, some of the most serious charges yet for those who violated the Capitol on January 6.

CNN found that a disproportionate number of those indicted in the attack on the Capitol were former members of the military.

‘The most beautiful thing’

No one disputes that Watkins went to Capitol Hill to protest President Joe Biden’s certification of electoral victory. She is seen on a video boasting inside the Capitol building.

Her boyfriend said she went to “help protect some Trump VIPs in the rally,” but he didn’t know who.

After violating the Capitol, Watkins described the scene inside the building as she saw it.

She added: “Some people have hijacked what started as a peaceful movement.”

But the words on her Speaking After the Breach account offer a very different perspective. They are highlighted in the federal complaint against her.

“Yeah. We stormed the Capitol today. Tear gas, all, 9. Pushed our way into the Rotunda. We even got to the Senate,” she wrote.

Another message from Watkins used as evidence by the FBI said, “We never broke anything, stole anything, burned nothing, and honestly we were very respectful with Capitol Hill PD until they attacked us. Then we held on and drew the line.

Watkins and many others came to Washington trained for war, some wearing their combat gear: ballistic helmets, army fatigues, and goggles.

Videos showed a group of more than a dozen people, in formation, with their hands on their shoulders, climbing the steps of the Capitol.

Federal prosecutors say Watkins and others used the Zello phone app, which works like a walkie-talkie, to communicate and plan the assault.

Watkins has yet to have a lawyer assigned to her. But her boyfriend spoke on her behalf. The two own the Jolly Roger bar together. They are both members of the group she “commanded” called the Ohio State Regular Militia. “He’s not a violent person,” Siniff told CNN. “She can be very lively, but she’s a really good person at heart and she really wants to try and help people.”

But law enforcement and many lawmakers inside say the rioters who raped the Capitol put lives at risk.

Links to far-right oath observers

Siniff said Watkins trained the militia to help tornado victims when local authorities were absent or overwhelmed.

There is a long history of paramilitary groups settling in rural areas of Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere, and the FBI says there is sometimes a darker side.

Watkins is a member of the Oath Keepers, a pro-Trump far-right anti-government group that sees itself as part of the militia movement tasked with protecting the country.

There is no private citizen militia in the United States. A militia must be sanctioned by the state.

The Oath Keepers are clear that they are trying to recruit members from serving and retired military personnel, first responders and the police, and its name refers to the oath taken to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreigners and nationals”.

In court documents, the FBI says, “Oath-keepers will violate federal law if they believe their cause is just.”

Recruit veterans

Watkins’ alleged co-conspirators are named by the FBI Donovan Crowl, a former Navy, and Thomas Caldwell, who served in the Navy.

Crowl lives just down the road from Watkins’ Jolly Roger bar and was a regular there.

Neighbors told CNN that Watkins will try to recruit people when they enter the bar. Most did not accept it. But Crowl joined Watkins and Siniff in their armed group.

“When he’s drunk he’s the guy you want to shut up. When he’s sober the best man you can have,” Siniff said of the former Marine. “The militia was a good thing to help him … like it was a reason to be sober.”

CNN has contacted Crowl’s lawyer but has not received a response.

Crowl’s criminal record shows charges of domestic violence and drunk driving, some of which have resulted in a conviction. This was noted by the federal judge when his lawyer tried to have him released before his trial. His lawyer said he deserved to be released because he was not a danger to society.

He was seen on a video saying, ‘We have invaded the Capitol’, his criminal history includes offenses related to violence and alcohol, he also demonstrated a previous non-compliance. releasing in a residence with nine firearms is a failure “, judge Dit Sharon Ovington. Crowl has been returned to custody pending a preliminary hearing in Ohio.

“It was like he had done a 180 degree turnaround, the world owed him a life, and he had a big chip on his shoulder,” Rowe said. “I don’t know if it’s because life didn’t turn out the way he planned.”

When asked why she thought Crowl was attracted to this extremist group, she replied, “I would like to understand me. I do not understand.

Caldwell, the third veteran named Co-Conspirator, lives on a secluded property on a country road in Berryville, Va., 400 miles from Watkins and Crowl’s Woodstock homes.

It is not known how long Caldwell knew Crowl and Watkins. But the FBI says they met in Washington, DC. Crowl took a video of himself and Watkins inside the Capitol and posted it on social media.

Outside the Capitol, Caldwell made his feelings clear on January 6.

“Everyone single in there is a traitor, every one of them,” he shouted in a video, appearing to refer to lawmakers inside.

Caldwell was a name in his local political circles in Virginia. He was a delegate to the Republican convention in Clarke County, Va., Last year.

A lawyer temporarily assigned to Caldwell said during a detention hearing that his opposition to Biden’s election victory was not unusual and that he was not charged with a violent crime.

But the judge disagreed: “The conduct and statements of Mr. Caldwell and the others are really pure anarchy,” Federal Court Judge Joel Hoppe said in Harrisonburg, Va. .

Strong support for Watkins

The village of Woodstock has a population of approximately 300. Many houses are clustered around the crossroads, and the only traffic lights still display “Trump 2020” banners.

There is also the “Don’t Tread on Me” or Gadsden flag of the American Revolution and a Stars and Stripes which flies upside down – a signal of “terrible distress”, according to American code.

Some villagers were hostile to our CNN crew, calling the local sheriff to complain twice. Others were happier to talk and argued with their neighbors to back away.

And even after all the videos and social media posts showing Watkins declaiming the storming of the Capitol, Watkins’ boyfriend defends her.

“I don’t think the conspiracy charges are at all fair,” Siniff said.