Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Jan. 6-related filing reveals U.S. Marine was jailed for plot to shoot up synagogue

Prosecutors believe the former Marine was a boyfriend to a woman accused of stealing Nancy Pelosi’s laptop.

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A filing in a case stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection revealed that a U.S. Marine in a relationship with one of the defendants served 19 months for a plot to shoot up a synagogue.

The revelation came in a filing by federal prosecutors arguing against a request by an alleged insurgent, Riley Williams, to loosen restrictions pending her trial.

Williams, who lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, lied about a meeting she had with the former Marine, the prosecutor’s filing said. Williams, who is under house arrest and wears an ankle monitor, is seeking less stringent restrictions, the Patriot-News reported over the weekend.

The June 10 filing by the U.S. Attorney does not name the Marine, who was given a bad-conduct discharge, or when or where he plotted to attack a synagogue. It says only that he “stole his roommates’ truck and attempted to purchase a firearm with the intent of committing a mass shooting at a synagogue.”

The man “was sentenced to 19 months in custody and was given a bad-conduct discharge from the U.S. Marines Corps.”

Williams, who is among the more prominent defendants because she allegedly stole U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s laptop, broke conditions of her release by having video meetings with the former Marine, “who is believed to be Williams’ then-boyfriend” and by meeting with him in person in August 2021, the filing said.

At that in-person meeting, the former Marine revealed to Williams “the circumstances of his prior arrest, prosecution, incarceration and discharge from the United States Marine Corps.”

Bellingcat, an investigative journalism website, was the first to identify Williams shortly after the insurrection. To do so, the group used a video that showed a woman with a hat emblazoned with occult Nazi symbology dancing until a narrator says “Heil Hitler,” at which point she gives the Nazi salute.

A congressional committee investigating the insurrection last week launched public hearings and focused particularly on the role of far-right groups in its organization.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.