A woman who led a crowd with a megaphone during the riot at the Capitol last month, according to federal prosecutors, was arrested Thursday and charged with multiple federal crimes.
Rachel Marie Powell was arrested in Pennsylvania, according to documents posted on the Justice Department website. Powell is facing five charges, including deprivation of government property, entering a restricted area with a dangerous weapon, and obstructing official proceedings, a crime that could include up to 20 years in prison.
Powell was arrested Thursday night in New Castle, Pennsylvania, according to a CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh.
The FBI identified Powell as a woman seen on viral social media and news footage shouting instructions to rioters who broke the Capitol on Jan. 6. According to an affidavit from an FBI investigator, Powell was identified using an anonymous tip after the agency posted images of her from the Capitol riot on a wanted poster.
The affidavit shows photos of a woman in a pink hat helping to use a large pipe as a battering ram to break into the Capitol.
It is unclear whether Powell has a lawyer.
Earlier this week, The New Yorker magazine published an interview with Powell in which she admitted she was the woman who wielded the megaphone in the riot’s much-seen videos. She told the outlet that she had not been part of a conspiracy to break into the Capitol.
“I wasn’t part of a conspiracy — organized, whatever,” Powell said. ‘I don’t have a military background … I am a mother of eight children. That is it. I work. And I garden. And I raise chickens. And selling cheese at a farmers market. “
“Listen, if someone doesn’t help and lead people, will more people die?” she added when asked about her behavior during the incident. ‘That’s all I’m going to say about it. I can say no more. I need to talk to a lawyer. “