A woman who federal prosecutors say is directing a crowd with a megaphone during the Capitol riot last month was arrested on Thursday and charged with several federal crimes.
Rachel Marie Powell was arrested in Pennsylvania, according to documents published on the Department of Justice website. Powell faces five charges, including depredating government property, entering a restricted area with a dangerous weapon and obstructing an official process, a crime that carries the possibility of up to 20 years in prison.
According to a CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, Powell was arrested Thursday night in New Castle, Pennsylvania.
The FBI identified Powell as a woman who was seen on viral social media and news screaming instructions to protesters who were breaking into the Capitol building on January 6. According to a statement by an FBI investigator, Powell was identified with the help of an anonymous tip after the agency posted pictures of her of the Capitol riot on a wanted poster.
The statement shows photos of a woman wearing a pink hat helping to use a large pipe as a battering ram to break into the Capitol building.
It is not clear whether Powell has a lawyer.
Earlier this week, The New Yorker magazine published an interview with Powell in which she admitted being the woman wielding the megaphone in the widely viewed videos of the rebellion. She told the channel that she had not participated in any conspiracy to invade the Capitol.
“I was not part of a plot – organized, whatever,” said Powell. “I have no military training … I am a mother with eight children. It is. Job. And cultivation. And I raise chickens. And sell cheese at an open market. “
“Listen, if someone doesn’t help and direct people, then more people die?” she added when asked about her conduct during the incident. “That’s all I’m going to say about it. I can’t say any more. I need to speak to a lawyer. “