- A Virginia woman was sentenced to 90 days in prison for participating in the Capitol riot.
- Prosecutors say Kelly O'Brien made several Facebook posts before and after the riot on January 6, 2021.
- "Someone may have trashed a certain speaker of the houses [sic] office. But I will never tell who," she posted.
A Virginia woman who was arrested last August on Capitol riot charges was sentenced to 90 days in prison on Wednesday.
Kelly O'Brien pleaded guilty in January to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building. She initially faced five charges, including disorderly and disruptive conduct in a Capitol building, and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building.
But as the government works to prosecute the 800 people arrested in connection with the attack, federal prosecutors have offered some rioters lesser charges in exchange for their guilty pleas.
On top of the 90-day prison sentence, O'Brien agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and $500 in restitution. She will also be subject to one year of supervised release.
Prosecutors say the FBI received several tips regarding O'Brien's Facebook posts and videos from the Capitol on January 6, 2021. O'Brien reportedly recorded multiple videos of herself outside the Capitol leading up to the mob's breach. In one video, she "appeared to be gathering the courage to move forward" and asked viewers to "pray for us," according to charging documents.
Following the siege, O'Brien informed her Facebook followers that she was safe while hinting at the role she played in the insurrection.
"Someone may have trashed a certain speaker of the houses [sic] office. But I will never tell who," she posted.
O'Brien later removed all evidence of her participation in the riot from her social media, prosecutors said, telling her followers that she had to "scrub" her page for "obvious reasons."
"Glad some were able to see the truth of what happened," O'Brien wrote. "This is why it's so important you become part of the Revolution in our fight for freedom."
Investigators later identified O'Brien in surveillance footage from inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021, recognizable by her white, thigh-length winter coat. Google records also placed her cellphone near the Capitol during the attack.
When FBI agents first contacted O'Brien in January 2021 requesting an interview, she told them to leave her residence, according to court documents.
Investigators returned in March with a search warrant, and O'Brien's husband told authorities that she had hung her white winter coat in their home's powder room, along with her purse following the riot. Her purse contained a canister of bear spray or pepper spray, he told investigators, which apparently went off and contaminated the entire lower level of their house.
Prosecutors also said O'Brien appeared to be part of multiple right-wing Facebook groups, including one called "STOP THE STEAL 2020."
Gregory Hunter, an attorney for O'Brien, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but he did express his displeasure with the sentence in court on Wednesday, according to The Morning Call.