Woman investigated for stealing laptop from Pelosi’s office during riot on Capitol Hill faces new charges



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Riley Williams, the woman who was accused by a former romantic partner of steal a computer from Nancy Pelosi’s office during the U.S. Capitol riot, faces new charges, court documents released Tuesday. The amended criminal complaint cites a video from that day in which Williams allegedly asked a man to put on gloves before touching Pelosi’s laptop, and claims she can be seen walking in and out of Pelosi’s office.

Williams is now charged with “aiding others in hijacking, stealing, stealing” and “obstructing, influencing or obstructing any official process”. She still faces her original charges of “knowingly entering or remaining in any building or restricted land without legal authorization” and “violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds”.

Williams surrendered to authorities in Pennsylvania on Monday, after someone who identified as her former romantic partner repeatedly called the FBI in the days following the riots to report seeing her in videos inside the Capitol, according to court documents.

In the amended complaint, an FBI agent said Williams’ former partner shared video clips with investigators which they said were recorded or broadcast live by Williams during the riot. In a 4-second video, the person holding the camera – whom the officer said believed to be Williams – tilted it to show an HP laptop sitting on a wooden desk.

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A screenshot of the video included in the criminal complaint.

The Ministry of Justice


A female voice assumed to be Williams then said, “Dude, put on gloves,” according to the complaint. The video then appears to show a man’s arm touching a laptop computer, according to the complaint, adding that the text on the video reads “they got the laptop”.

The complaint said Capitol Hill police confirmed that an HP laptop was stolen from Pelosi’s office on the day of the riot. Capitol Police also confirmed that the footage shown in the video was taken in Pelosi’s office.

The complaint also cited articles on the social media app Discord in which a user named Riley wrote “I STOLE S *** FROM NANCY POLESI (sic)” and “I TOOK NANCY POLESIS HARD DRIVES I DONT CARE”. The complaint does not provide concrete evidence linking Williams to social media posts, but it notes that her former partner said she frequently uses the platform.

Williams’ former partner also told authorities that she “intended to send the computing device to a friend in Russia, who was then considering selling the device to SVR, the Russian foreign intelligence service.” , according to the complaint. But that plan “failed for unknown reasons,” the partner said, alleging that Williams still owns the device or destroyed it. This allegation “is still under investigation”, according to the complaint.

Clare Hymes contributed reporting.

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