Case of school therapist shows scope of Capitol riot probe
CLEVELAND — Documents filed in the federal case of a former therapist for the Cleveland schools reveal the sweeping scope of the investigation into the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Federal prosecutors Thursday asked for a twomonth continuance in the case of Christine Priola of Willoughby because of the sheer volume of the work involved in the hundreds of cases stemming from the Capitol riots. Her attorneys did not oppose the request.
Already, prosecutors said more than 300 people have been arrested across the United States, with charges to be filed against at least 100 more. Investigators have received more than 210,000 tips, wrote more than 80,000 reports and viewed more than 15,000 hours of surveillance and body cam video. They also seized about 1,600 electronic devices, documents say.
“The investigation and prosecution of the Capitol attack will likely be one of the largest in American history, both in terms of the number of defendants prosecuted and the nature and volume of the evidence,” federal prosecutors wrote in a filing Thursday in Priola’s case.
Prosecutors said they will prioritize the cases. Defendants who were arrested and detained will be the first to receive documents and investigative reports on their cases. Those like Priola, who was released on bond, will have their cases handled immediately afterward.
Priola has yet to be indicted. A two-month continuance means she could face charges by early June. She was arrested Jan. 14 and accused of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building; violent entry; and unlawful activities on Capitol grounds.
Authorities said she was among scores of rioters who broke through barricades and entered the Capitol while Congress was in session to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election.
The protesters initially attended a rally outside the Capitol, where then-president Trump spoke. Many described the storming of the building as an insurrection to support Trump’s attempts to stay in power. Four rioters and a Capitol police officer died in the attack.
Priola became a suspect after a photographer for Getty Images took a picture in the chamber of the U.S. Senate of protesters reveling and trespassing. The photograph showed a woman, at the front of the chamber, carrying a sign that said, “The Children Cry Out For Justice.” Several people on social media identified the woman as Priola.
The FBI and U.S. marshals searched her home and seized a laptop, two desktop computers and several thumb drives, according to court documents. Agents also recovered clothing, the sign that she held “and other materials consistent with the photographs of Priola taken Jan. 6,” the records show.
The day after the rally, Priola submitted her resignation from the Cleveland schools in a conspiracy-laden letter to officials. In it, she said refused to take a coronavirus vaccine to return to classes and planned to “expose the global evil of human trafficking and pedophilia, including in our government agencies and children’s services agencies.”
She began working as an occupational therapist for the district in August 2000.