Woman charged with stealing Pelosi's laptop released on house arrest

Jan. 21 (UPI) -- A woman accused of stealing Nancy Pelosi's laptop during the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol building was released on house arrest Thursday.

Riley June Williams, 22, was released into the custody of her mother and ordered to remain confined in the Harrisburg, Pa., home they share. She was also fitted with a GPS monitoring device pending further proceedings in her case.

On Monday, the FBI said it was investigating Williams after a tipster said she stole the laptop with the intention of sending the device to a friend in Russia who planned to sell it to the country's foreign intelligence service.

The FBI said that after the transfer "fell through" Williams either maintained possession of it or destroyed it and appeared to flee after deleting all of her social media accounts and changing her phone number.

Williams surrendered to authorities Monday after being charged with trespassing, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Prosecutors later added felony charges including aiding or abetting the theft of government property, and obstructing, influencing or impeding an official proceeding.

Williams' public defender, Lori Ulrich, on Thursday acknowledged that her client did enter the Capitol during the siege after traveling to Washington, D.C., with her father. Ulrich said it was "regrettable that Ms. Williams took the president's bait" after Donald Trump's speech that morning encouraging his supporters to "fight" as Congress certified the results of the election.

Ulrich also said that Williams changed her phone number at the direction of a police officer investigating alleged abuse by her former boyfriend, who provided the tip identifying Williams to the FBI.

The FBI's Detroit division on Thursday also announced the arrest of a Michigan man named Michael Foy, who the agency said was seen on video attacking members of the Metropolitan Police Department with a hockey stick.

"Foy begins striking a group of Metropolitan Police Officer assisting in the protection of the U.S. Capitol who had been knocked down and dragged into the crowd of rioters," an affidavit said.

Foy was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; obstruction of law enforcement; forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, or interfering with an officer of the United States and aiding and abetting in obstructing, influencing or impeding any official proceeding of Congress.