Ex-Lakeland resident Corinne Montoni sentenced to 30 days for role in US Capitol attack

Corinne Montoni, the first Polk County resident arrested on charges related to the U.S. Capitol attack of 2021, will spend a short stint in prison.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the District of Columbia sentenced Montoni on Thursday to 30 days in prison following her guilty plea to a charge of civil disorder, a felony. Her sentence includes 24 months of supervised release, and she must pay $2,000 in restitution.

Montoni, 33, accepted a plea agreement in June from the Justice Department, pleading guilty to civil disorder in exchange for having other felony charges against her dismissed. She remains free on personal recognizance and is allowed to self-surrender, the judge's order said.

Montoni, then a Lakeland resident, was arrested in March 2021 and charged with obstruction of an official proceeding; entering and remaining; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct for parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, and aiding and abetting the commission of those offenses. She faced a possible sentence of decades if convicted on all counts.

Public records indicate that Montoni now lives in Pinellas County, though a news release from the Department of Justice listed her as a Lakeland resident. She is one of six current and former Polk County residents indicted on charges related to the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of three months — in the middle of the government’s guideline range — followed by 36 months of probation, along with $2,000 in restitution and a special assessment of $100. Montoni’s lawyer, Bernard Crane of Fairfax, Virginia, requested a sentence of probation or home confinement.

Montoni is the only one of the six with Polk County ties accused of entering the Capitol building during the Jan. 6 riot. Prosecutors said that Montoni entered through a door off the Northwest Courtyard that she had seen rioters break through. She left after police officers used tear gas on rioters but soon re-entered for a brief period, according to government documents.

Montoni has been free on bond since her arraignment in March 2021, though required her to surrender her passport and firearms.

Prosecution records include photos of Montoni, some of which she took, showing her inside the building wearing a gray, hooded sweatshirt that read “TRUMP 2020 Keep America Great.”

Planning for a riot

The Jan. 6 riot occurred as members of Congress were meeting to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, won by Joe Biden. Then-President Donald Trump, having claimed for months that the election was stolen, held a rally that day on the Ellipse and urged supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol and oppose Congress’ confirmation of the election results.

A large crowd of Trump backers fought through lines of police officers to break into the Capitol building, resulting in injuries to more than 100 officers and damages estimated at $2.9 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

In the government’s sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Perri provided details on Montoni’s preparations for Jan. 6. For months prior, she “posted videos and vitriolic messages on social media advocating for and glorifying political violence,” the memo said.

Montoni followed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and also followed several Proud Boys accounts on Parler, the memo said. She “had interacted socially with several members on previous visits to Washington, D.C.,” Perri wrote.

Montoni posted to Parler on Dec. 16, 2020, “Insurrection Act coming in hot … void the fraudulent 2020 election, arrest these traitors and restore order and faith in our justice department.” On Dec. 28, she posted, “If Pence betrays us, we riot,” the memo said.

That was a reference to then-Vice President Mike Pence. Trump pressured Pence to halt the certification of the election, though the vice president, who oversees the gathering, has no such authority.

The sentencing memo details Montoni’s actions on Jan. 6. After attending Trump’s rally, she walked to the Capitol and followed other rioters though a broken door into a hallway of the Senate Wing. At one point, Montoni walked up behind a police officer and placed a sticker on his back that read, “F--- Antifa,” the memo said.

Joining a group in pushing against police officers trying to stop the rioters’ advance, Montoni “enthusiastically encouraged fellow rioters with shouts of ‘Push back, push back,’” the memo said. She advanced to the Crypt, a circular room below the Rotunda.

Montoni left after about 10 minutes in the building but soon re-entered “despite knowing that the police were attempting to remove all rioters,” the memo said. She left again after just a few minutes, the prosecutor wrote.

The sentencing memo cites Montoni’s social media posts and conversations after her entry into the Capitol. The day of the riot, she posted on Parler, “We do not want civilians. We do not even want most of the cops. We want the TRAITOR POLITICIANS. This is not a civil war. This is a revolution.”

In subsequent days, Montoni “bragged about her involvement in the riot and sought recognition for having been at and in the riot,” the memo said. After growing concerned about her possible arrest, she deleted her social media accounts.

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The investigation of Montoni began after the FBI received a tip from someone who had seen her Facebook posts. Six months after her arrest, she spoke with law enforcement in the presence of her lawyer and admitted to entering the Capitol, pushing against officers and placing a decal on an officer’s back, the memo said.

Montoni claimed that her inflammatory social media posts “were meant to be ‘jokes’ and merely intended to gain comments and followers,” the memo said.

Prosecutors offered the plea deal in May, and Montoni signed it on June 5, two days before it was due to expire. In signing the letter, she acknowledged that the charges being dropped “were based in fact.”

Seeking leniency

In a defense sentencing memo, Crane suggested that a sentence of probation or home confinement would be “sufficient.” While acknowledging that Montoni entered the Capitol, the lawyer wrote that she “brought no weapons or other dangerous or weapon-like objects, broke nothing, stole nothing, damaged nothing, and hurt no one, nor did she personally touch any officer or other member of the Capitol staff.”

There is no credible evidence that Montoni planned before Jan. 6 to do anything other than “exercise her constitutional rights of free speech and legal protest,” Crane wrote, saying that her decision to enter the Capitol “was formed in the minutes just prior to doing it.”

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Crane wrote that Montoni “is ashamed and embarrassed of her activities in connection with the J6 events and their aftermath and is painfully aware of the magnitude of what she has done.”

Montoni had a difficult childhood, never knowing her father and being placed into foster care shortly after birth because her mother was unavailable to care for her, Crane wrote. In recent months, she has “dedicated virtually full-time efforts to help the homeless, hungry and less fortunate” through unpaid charitable service, he wrote.

“She has lost much in terms of the disrepute she is now held in by much of her local community, who know of her J6 activities through local news reporting,” the lawyer wrote. “Based on all of the above, it is entirely unlikely she will ever re-offend in any way in her life.”

Crane’s memo included letters from two men, one who said he has been her companion for eight years.

“I know first hand how deeply she regrets her actions …” Zachary Varnum wrote.

In the government’s sentencing memo, Perri wrote that Montoni’s remorse “did not come until after she was facing the consequences of her actions.”

Montoni's case was investigated by the FBI’s Tampa and Washington Field Offices and the Metropolitan Police Department, with assistance from the U.S. Capitol Police, the Department of Justice said in a news release.

Montoni is the second defendant with ties to Polk County to be sentenced. Joshua Doolin of Polk City, convicted in March on one felony and three misdemeanors, was sentenced in August to 18 months in prison. He plans to appeal.

Three defendants — siblings Jonathan and Olivia Pollock and their friend, Joseph Hutchinson III — are fugitives after being either indicted or arrested. Brian Boele of Lakeland is awaiting trial on one felony charge and three misdemeanors.

More than 1,100 people have been charged for crimes related to the U.S. Capitol attack, including about 400 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, the Justice Department reported.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Corinne Montoni of Lakeland, who entered US Capitol, gets 30 days