CLEVELAND, Ohio – Christine Priola, a former occupational therapist at Cleveland schools, was arrested Thursday morning and accused of participating in last week’s attack on the United States Capitol.
Priola, 49, made a brief appearance in the United States District Court in Cleveland before Judge Jonathan Greenberg, who transferred his case to the District of Columbia. It is where federal prosecutors accused about two dozen others.
Willoughby’s Priola is accused of intentionally entering or staying in a restricted building; violent entry; and illegal activities due to Capitol. She was released on bail, with her travel restricted to northern Ohio and Washington for court hearings. Public defenders represented her at Thursday’s hearing.
Authorities said she was among many protesters in Washington who broke through barricades and invaded the Capitol while Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election.
Protesters initially participated in a demonstration outside the Capitol, where President Trump spoke. Many described the attack on the building as an uprising to support Trump’s attempts to stay in power. Four protesters and a Capitol policeman died in the confusion.
Priola became suspicious after a Getty Images photographer took a photo in the United States Senate chamber amid protesters partying and breaking into the property. The photograph showed a woman, in front of the camera, carrying a sign that said: “Children cry out for justice”. Several people on social media identified the woman as Priola.
In a statement filed on Thursday, David Kasulones, a U.S. deputy marshal, said the FBI received an anonymous tip on Friday, January 8, which also pointed to Priola as the woman in the photo. Authorities compared the photos taken of the woman in the Senate chambers with other photos of Willoughby’s wife.
On Friday night, authorities searched Priola’s home. They seized a laptop, two desktop computers and several flash drives, according to Kasulones’ statement. The agents also recovered clothes, the sign she held “and other materials consistent with Priola’s photos taken on January 6,” wrote Kasulones.
Investigators were also able to track his movements last week using his cell phone. At one point during the attack, she was standing northeast of the Capitol building, according to the deputy marshal’s testimony.
The day after the rally, Priola presented his resignation from the school district in a letter full of conspiracy to the authorities. In it, she said she refused to take the coronavirus vaccine to return to school and did not agree with union fees “that help finance people and groups that support the death of unborn children”.
She also said that “it will change course to expose the global evil of human trafficking and pedophilia, including in our government agencies and child service agencies.”
Priola graduated from Eastlake North High School and graduated in biology from Capital University before attending graduate school at the University of Indianapolis, according to her personal file. She started working as an occupational therapist at the Cleveland Schools in August 2000. She has an adult daughter.
“I have known for many years that I would like to work with children and help their development,” wrote Priola to school officials. “I understand that development in the critical years of childhood helps to form the basis for a healthy, safe and respectful life.”
In performance appraisals, supervisors praised their work, reliability and kindness in helping students with special needs.
“Christine is a professional who works hard,” wrote a supervisor in the early 2000s. “She is a team player who doesn’t complain. [Priola] gets along well with students, parents and teachers. It is a pleasure to work with her. “
She worked for the district for about twelve years before taking a year off. She returned in 2014. She was on leave when she attended the rally in Washington, DC
A Cleveland Schools spokeswoman said the district did not comment on personnel issues, “especially when they are part of an ongoing investigation.”
The district, however, issued a statement that said it “deeply condemns the actions of those involved in the riots within the Capitol and on Capitol grounds. The right to peaceful protest, protected by the First Amendment, is the basis of our democracy. The forced takeover and willful destruction of our government, no. “
While Priola’s personal archive offers a brilliant narrative of his work, the court records provide a different view. She changed her surname from Snyder to Priola in 2015, six years after the divorce.
“I don’t want that name anymore,” she said in a document filed with the Lake County Probate Court. She changed her name to Priola, her grandmother’s maiden name.
She later remarried in May 2018. She filed for divorce seven months later, the records show.