Former DoD contractor charged with entering Capitol as part of mob on Jan. 6

WASHINGTON — A former government contractor who held a Department of Defense security clearance was charged this week for joining the mob that entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Patricia Marie Wills was arrested in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Thursday on the standard four misdemeanor charges used in Capitol riot cases. The case was unsealed in D.C. District Court the same day.

According to charging documents, after the Jan. 6 riot the FBI received numerous tips about Wills’ alleged participation, including an email from a senior manager at the government contracting firm where Willis worked. The email reported Wills held a DoD secret security clearance and had admitted during an interview at her job that she’d entered the building.

Investigators say open-source footage shows Wills joining other members of the mob that entered the restricted area on the west side of the Capitol and then entering the building through the Senate Wing Door a little more than 10 minutes after it was first breached. According to charging documents, Wills then walked through portions of the building, including the Crypt, the Hall of Columns and the Capitol Visitor’s Center before leaving a little less than 20 minutes after she’d entered.

According to charging documents, Wills acknowledged her presence at the Capitol in a post on the social media site X, formerly Twitter, on the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack.

“Still the best last minute trip I’ve ever made,” investigators said Wills wrote in the post. “God put it in my heart I HAD to go. Don’t know the reason, but I had to be there. Witness. Pray for the J6 jailed.”

As of Thursday morning, both the X account and the post were still live. The account shows Wills had posted as recently as this week to share conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden’s health and the identity of the shooter in the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

Wills’ case was assigned for an initial hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey.

In the 42 months since the attack on the U.S. Capitol, more than 1,400 defendants have been charged. Of those, more than 1,000 have now pleaded guilty or been convicted of crimes ranging from unlawfully entering the building to seditious conspiracy.