Auburn woman convicted in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

WASHINGTON — A judge on Thursday imposed a year of probation on an Auburn woman who admitted to two federal crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Kimberly Sylvester of Auburn is seen inside the U.S. Capitol during the riot on January 6, 2021. She was sentenced Thursday to two one-year probation terms to be served concurrently and ordered to pay $500 $ compensation. Photo submitted

Kimberly Sylvester, 59, appeared via video conference in U.S. District Court, where a judge sentenced her to two one-year probation terms to be served concurrently.

The judge also ordered him to pay $500 in restitution.

Sylvester pleaded guilty in March to charges of disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and parading, demonstrating or picketing in one of the Capitol buildings.

Each crime is punishable by imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of three weeks in prison and three years of probation.

“The Court must also consider that the defendant's behavior on January 6, like that of many other defendants, occurred in the context of a large and violent riot that relied on numbers to overwhelm the police , enter the Capitol and disrupt the proceedings. . Without his actions alongside so many others, the riot likely would have failed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Shalin Nohria wrote in court documents.

The January 6 riot was “a violent attack that forced the disruption of Congress's certification of the 2020 Electoral College vote count, threatened the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, injured more than “around 100 police officers and resulted in more than $2.9 million in losses,” Nohria wrote.

Sylvester was arrested in Portland on December 13, 2023, and charged with four felonies in connection with the January 6 riot.

Prosecutors were expected to dismiss charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, as well as disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.

In a written statement to the court, Sylvester wrote: “There is simply no punishment that can compare or exceed the personal judgment and shame I have brought upon myself. The last few years of my life have been some of the most difficult I have faced.

“I have gone through a period of estrangement from a close family member, serious illness, loss of my career and my ability to volunteer to help our nation's veterans who are so dear to me. This day of January 6 also brought me nothing but regret, remorse, shame and reckoning with everyone and everything in my life,” she wrote.

Sylvester said she traveled to Washington because of her concerns for the country and to attend a prayer vigil the day before.

On Jan. 6, she went to the Ellipse to hear speeches, then marched with the crowd to the Capitol building, she said.

“Eventually things started to get more chaotic, and I realized it, but I was completely oblivious to the violent events happening outside of my vision and wouldn't really know what had happened until later. days and months later,” she wrote.

It was only inside the building that she became aware that people were behaving inappropriately toward police, she wrote.

“I have no reasonable or intelligent answer as to why I walked through the open doors of the building. Looking back, I think my curiosity about what was going on would be my downfall. If I had known the full extent of the events that occurred at that time, I would never have come closer and I certainly would not have entered, for whatever reason,” she wrote.

“I walked into the building out of sheer stupidity and there is simply no excuse for that. I have told everyone I have discussed it with, (that) I and I alone have made the decision to enter and I will be the one who pays for that decision, which will affect me for the rest of my life.

Her attorney, Marina Medvin, told the judge in a sentencing memorandum that Sylvester is a grandmother and mother of two adult daughters from previous marriages that ended in serious physical abuse and infidelity. She is a registered nurse who has worked in various medical fields including oncology, ortho-neuro, dementia, physical rehabilitation and general medical-surgical nursing.

“I spent my entire career helping others as a nurse, something I held in high regard,” Sylvester wrote. “I took care of my patients as I would my own family. It was taken away from me because of that day of bad judgment. I was also proud to help local veterans return to see their monuments and honor their service by being part of the medical team that helped them return to Washington. I can't do this anymore, because of my actions.

Both of his parents served as officers in the United States Army during World War II.

Sylvester is pictured in court documents entering through the door of the building that had been breached.

She was filmed walking through the north hall of the crypt, wearing a purple coat and a red, white and blue “TRUMP” ski cap with a pompom.

In other photos, she is shown moving around the lobby, inside Statuary Hall, near the interior door of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda and just inside the door to the Senate Front Wing to leave the building.

She had spent about an hour in the building, according to court documents.

Investigators determined that Sylvester's cell phone had been used inside the Capitol on the day of the riot.

Four days after the Capitol breach, a federal agent texted an image of a woman to Sylvester's cellphone and asked her to confirm or deny that she was the woman shown in the photo.

Sylvester responded, acknowledging that she was the woman depicted in the photo and, in a later interview, admitted that she was in the building that day, according to court records.

She told officers that when she entered the building, the door was already open.

Sylvester can be seen in court documents entering the building as the emergency alarm sounded and “with rioters still climbing through the broken window immediately to her left” at the Senate wing door.

Sylvester told officers she saw a group of people pushing and shoving a door, and “that's when she realized she shouldn't be in the” building and that she found a police officer and told him “she wanted to go out,” according to court documents.

The officer helped her down a flight of stairs that led out of the building, she said.

She denied being involved in rioting, theft or destruction of property of any kind.

Sylvester told FBI agents that she told officers inside the building that she was a nurse and could provide help if needed, according to court documents.

More than a half-dozen other Mainers have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot.

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