Woman formally charged with stealing Nancy Pelosi's laptop during Capitol riot

Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Prosecutors on Thursday formally charged a Pennsylvania woman with stealing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's laptop during the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol and then selling or disposing of it.

Riley Williams, 22, was charged with stealing the laptop and resisting police in an indictment unsealed Thursday. She also faces six other felony and misdemeanor counts for her role in the insurrection.

In the indictment, the FBI describes the computer as a Hewlett-Packard laptop "located in the offices of a member of Congress."

Video recorded inside the Capitol features a woman, whom prosecutors say is Williams, saying "Dude, put on gloves," as a gloved hand grabs the laptop from Pelosi's desk.

The FBI also alleged that a social media account with the user name "Riley" posted about having stolen from Pelosi and taken her "hard drives."

In January, the FBI announced it opened an investigation into the theft of Pelosi's laptop after a tipster identified Williams in a video from the Capitol and said she intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to that country's foreign intelligence service.

The tipster added that the transfer "fell through" and Williams either held onto the laptop or destroyed it.

Williams later surrendered to authorities but was released into the custody of her mother and ordered to remain confined in the Harrisburg, Pa., home they share, while being fitted with a GPS monitoring device pending further proceedings in the case.

An attorney for Williams said she changed her phone number after the riots at the direction of a police officer investigating alleged abuse by her former boyfriend, who provided the tip identifying Williams to the FBI.