May 12, 2024
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Illinois woman pleads guilty to charges in connection to Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Sentencing is set for February

By Michelle Meyer
Lake in the Hills resident Nhi Ngoc Mai Le at Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. She faces four charges in connection with the U.S. Capitol breech.

Lake in the Hills resident Nhi Ngoc Mai Le is seen Jan. 6, 2021, at Washington D.C. She has pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the U.S. Capitol breach. (Photo provided by the United States Department of Justice)

A former resident of Lake in the Hills has pleaded guilty to two charges in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Nhi Ngoc Mai Le pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, court records show.

Four charges were made against Mai Le in September: entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Mai Le, whom court documents now list as living in Montgomery, originally pleaded not guilty to all four charges, court documents show. She entered a plea agreement Oct. 20 with prosecutors who dropped the other charges, according to court records filed Wednesday.

Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of six months, five years probation and a $5,000 fine, according to court records.

The FBI was able to identify Mai Le because she posted “several pictures to her Facebook account of herself at a rally in Washington, D.C., and inside the U.S. Capitol building,” according to a criminal complaint filed against Mai Le in federal court.

It also was anonymously reported to the FBI National Threat Operations Center that Mai Le was present at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the complaint.

The FBI interviewed Mai Le on April 14, 2021, at her place of employment, an unidentified business in Johnsburg, and Feb. 22, 2022, at her home, according to the complaint.

FBI agents also found Facebook messages sent by Mai Le that said “I was inside the Capitol” and “got pepper spray[ed],” authorities said. Messages also revealed that she climbed a wall to reach the Capitol building, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

She was released on bond in September, court records show.

Mai Le is set to appear before a federal judge Feb. 26 via video conference, court records show.