According to federal prosecutors, the FBI arrested a Pennsylvania mother of eight fleeing authorities for her role in the Capitol riot.
Rachel Marie Powell, of Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania, “is under arrest,” Margaret Philbin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh, told The Daily Beast.
Powell, 40, was arrested Thursday night in New Castle, according to Philbin. He could not be contacted immediately for comment and does not yet have a lawyer listed in the court record.
The cheese and yogurt vendor, called “the lady of the megaphone” after a video of Powell appeared appearing to shout orders through a megaphone during the January 6 looting at the Capitol, apparently was not home when the ‘The FBI raided his home on Thursday afternoon. Neighbors told local news reporters that Powell and his family had lived there for several years, but mostly stayed alone.
According to a complaint filed Friday in federal court, Powell faces charges of obstruction, looting of government property, entry into a restricted building with a dangerous weapon, and disorderly conduct of entry and violence. He was scheduled to appear before a judge at 3 p.m.
The statement says Powell used a pipe to break a window in the Capitol, causing more than $ 1,000 in damage. An anonymous tipster sent Powell to the FBI for the first time, he explains, and gave officers the link to Powell’s Facebook profile. There, officers were able to match photographs of Powell carrying a distinctive set of pads with those seen carrying him to the Capitol.
After being seen on video during the Jan. 6 riot with a pink hat and sunglasses, Powell earned her signature nickname, though she was also known as the “Pink Hat Lady.”
“People should probably coordinate together if you want to grab this building,” Powell shouted through a shattered window at a group of Capitol insurgents. “We have another window to break to make it easier to get in and out.”
Powell, who became the subject of his own FBI “Wanted” poster, accepted an interview with Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker before being charged.
Powell, originally from Anaheim, California, told Farrow that she acted spontaneously on Jan. 6 and that “she wasn’t part of a plot.”
“I have no military background … I am a mother with eight children,” she said. “That’s it. I work. And I garden. And raise chickens. And sell cheese to a farmers market …. Listen, if someone doesn’t help and lead people, then more people die? That’s all I’ll say about that. I can’t say more. I need to talk to a lawyer. “
Apparently, Powell became more or less radicalized over the past year: when he didn’t rule a table in local farmers markets, Powell used Facebook to post on topics like yoga and organic food. However, he recently began expressing increasingly extreme political views that included various conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and unfounded doubts about the validity of the 2020 presidential election.
“She is OK [sic] late to wake up, say no and restore freedoms, ”he wrote on Facebook last May.
Powell was reportedly influenced by Infowars founder Alex Jones, who claimed the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax and that New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani did countless false claims while practicing as Donald Trump’s personal attorney.
Deborah Lemons, Powell’s mother, told Farrow that Powell was arrested at gunpoint during a car theft when she was little. She said she was “surprised” that her daughter, with whom Lemons has maintained a close relationship for the past few years, was involved in the Capitol revolt, as the past had been at a wrong point of violence.
“She knows exactly what it’s like to wonder if she’ll lose her life,” Lemons said.