Riley Williams has taken out a restraining order against a “former abusive boyfriend” who told the FBI she planned to sell the House Speaker’s computer to a Russian spy agency.
Riley June Williams being released from Dauphin County Prison in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (The Patriot News/AP)
The Pennsylvania woman accused of stealing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s laptop during the Capitol riot is a victim of a vindictive ex-boyfriend, her lawyer claims.
Riley June Williams, 22, was arrested Monday following an FBI tip from her ex, but defense attorney Lori Ulrich described the accusations as “overblown” during a federal court appearance Thursday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
During the deadly mayhem of January 6, Williams was seen on video inside the Captiol directing other rioters to go upstairs to Pelosi’s office. There she is alleged to have taken a laptop belonging to the House Speaker.
The defendant’s former boyfriend told the FBI Williams had stolen the computer and planned to send it to a friend in Russia who would sell it to the SVR, the country’s secret service, federal prosecutors said. The plan is said to have fallen through.
But Ulrich told U.S. Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson during the hearing that the tip came from a “former abusive boyfriend who has threatened Ms Williams in a number of ways.”
Speaking after Williams had been granted bail, Ulrich said her client had taken out a temporary restraining order against her former partner in order to escape his abuse.
“He has stalked and harassed her and she had to change her phone number at the suggestion of a police officer,” Ulrich said.
A copy of the restraining order obtained by DailyMail.com names Michael Prodanov of Trenton, New Jersey, as Williams’ “current or former sexual or intimate partner.”
In the document, Williams claims Prodanov shared naked photos of her with her family and threatened to rape her. She also said that he turned up at her mother’s apartment on the Monday following the Capitol riot, and also “showed up at my place of employment and tried to get me terminated.”
Williams admits being part of the mob that stormed the US Capitol after then President Trump delivered a speech repeating unsubstantiated claims that the November presidential election was stolen.
Ulrich suggested her client “took the president’s bait” in joining the rioters, but insisted the case was not straightforward.
“I don’t think it’s as clear as the government is making it in their affidavit of probable cause,” Ulrich said, according to WHP-TV. “There are allegations that will have to be investigated as this case goes on.”
Following Thursday’s hearing, Williams was released to home confinement and ordered to remain under GPS monitoring while her case proceeds in federal court in Washington.
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