CLEVELAND — Authorities have arrested and charged a former Cleveland Metropolitan School District employee for alleged involvement in the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6., according to documents released by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Christine Priola, the district's former occupational therapist, is being charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building, violent entry and unlawful activities, according to the court documents.
Priola, 49, appeared in court Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge William Baughman in the U.S. District Court in Cleveland, according to the documents.
The case will now be transferred to Washington, D.C., the documents stated. All charges regarding criminal activity at the capital will be coming from the U.S. Attorney's Office, FBI Cleveland spokesperson Vicki Anderson told Spectrum News.
On Jan. 13, prosecutors applied for an arrest warrant, which was signed and sealed by U.S. D.C. District Court Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey. Priola was arrested on Jan. 14, according to a motion by acting U.S. attorney Michael Sherwin. The complaint and warrant were unsealed upon her arrest.
According to the complaint, location history of Priola's phone, which was recovered by agents who searched her home, showed that she was at the Capitol during the demonstrations.
Last week, officials said the FBI searched her home in Willoughby, Ohio shortly after social media users began identifying her. The picture floating around Twitter and Facebook showed a woman, later identified as Priola by authorities, at the front of the House chamber near the main desk with another man. The photo was also used by D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department to search for those who had illegally entered the Capitol building, according to a Powerpoint posted by the department.
Shortly before agents came to her home, she submitted her resignation letter, which was released by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. In the letter, Priola said she was resigning to switch paths in life to focus on exposing the "global evil of human trafficking and pedophilia," including in the government and children's services agencies. She also cited fears of being forced to take the vaccine to continue working for the school district, though Ohio has no such plans to require that school staff be immunized.
The Cleveland Teachers Union released a statement Jan. 8 after learning Priola was at the riots.
"While we support the right to peaceful protest, what happened inside the Capitol on Wednesday was not a protest, it was an insurrection. It is the exact opposite of what we teach our students. Anyone who participated must bear the very serious consequences of their actions."