A Connecticut mom and her oversharing teenage daughter have been charged over their role in the Capitol riot after a Facebook “friend” tipped off the FBI.
Jean Lavin, 56, and daughter Carla Krzywicki, 19, were arrested Tuesday after an anonymous tipster sent a screenshot of a since-deleted Facebook post with photos of protesters storming the Capitol on January 6, an FBI statement of facts said.
The post, from Krzywicki’s Facebook account, included a selfie outside the Capitol building of mom and daughter sporting Trump winter hats and another photo taken inside the building.
“This is history,” the post reads. “we do not go burning down your city and stealing from your business. we come for the government officials that are ruining our country.
“We go straight to the source. change needs to happen. that is our house and you work for us.”
Agents identified the duo from cellphone data, their clothing in photos and videos and a “Trump Won” sign adorned with two American flags and carried by Lavin on the fateful day, court records show. Video evidence included open-source footage showing the mother-daughter pair among other rioters climbing barricades to get to the Capitol building.
During a police interview at their Canterbury home in June, the mother and daughter admitted traveling from Norwich to DC by bus, but said a delay caused them to miss then-President Donald Trump’s speech after their bus driver got lost in New York City, records show.
Upon arrival, the pair said they joined the throng making its way towards the Capitol building as Congress sat to certify Joe Biden’s win over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Lavin claimed “they entered the Capitol just to look around of curiosity,” the statement of facts says.
Mother and daughter said they spent around half an hour inside the building before leaving. They said they returned approximately 20 minutes later to spend another 20 minutes inside, according to the statement.
Krzywicki said they decided to leave after her mother fell while inside. The younger woman also allegedly told investigators that she decided to delete her Facebook post documenting the family outing “because it seemed like a bad idea to leave it up.”
Mother and daughter face a slew of charges including disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.