Alleged Capitol rioter charged
A former West Sunbury resident who allegedly helped smash a window at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, D.C., has been arrested, charged and arraigned on five federal counts.
Rachel Marie Powell, 40, of Sandy Lake, Mercer County, was arrested at the FBI office in New Castle Thursday night when she turned herself in. She faces charges of obstruction, depredation of government property, entering a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, entering a restricted building or grounds and violent entry or disorderly conduct.
She is being held at the Butler County Prison.
Powell was featured in an article published in The New Yorker, in which she admitted to being the “pink hat lady” and “bullhorn lady” at the riot who helped others use a metal pole to smash a window and used a bullhorn to shout instructions to other rioters on how to “take this building.”
In the article, she stated she moved with her family from California to West Sunbury at age 15. Records at the Butler County Bureau of Elections show a Rachel M. Powell voting in the county until 2008.
FBI agents Thursday raided the Sandy Lake home of Powell, who said in the article she is the mother of eight children.
Charging documents written by FBI Special Agent Carlos Fontanez list Powell's movements at the Capitol Building and includes quotes from Powell as she shouted into a bullhorn on video.
Fontanez said Powell can be heard stating on the bullhorn that she had just been inside the Capitol Building in an adjacent room, and that rioters should “coordinate together if you are going to take this building.”
She also said she and the rioters “have another window to break,” according to Fontanez.The documents also include several photos of Powell as she participated in the riot either inside or near an entrance to the Capitol.One image depicts Powell “within proximity of a key access point to the Capitol that was the epicenter of visible assaults directed toward law enforcement officers protecting the Capitol,” Fontanez said.He pointed out that 81 Capitol Police and 58 Metropolitan Police officers were assaulted during the riot, and millions in damage was done to the building through broken windows and doors, graffiti and residue of pepper spray, tear gas and fire extinguishers used by both rioters and police.Fontanez said as a result of an online FBI “Wanted” poster published Jan. 16, an anonymous tip named the so-called “pink hat lady” as Rachel Powell.The tip also included Powell's Facebook account, which shows her in outerwear worn by the woman in pictures and videos during the Capitol attack.An investigation into the Facebook account by FBI agents revealed Powell's cell phone number, which agents discovered had connected to cell towers in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6.Based on the mounting evidence against her, an arrest warrant was issued for Powell that resulted in her being taken into FBI custody.Judge Patricia Dodge of U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, ordered Powell remain in custody until a detention hearing that will be held at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday before federal Judge Lisa Lenihan at the Western District court in Pittsburgh.Powell appeared for a preliminary arraignment Friday, then was returned to the Butler County Prison.It will be decided at Tuesday's proceeding whether Powell will be freed on bond, moved to Washington, D.C., or remain in the Butler County Prison.
