Long Island Woman, Jan. 6 Insurrection Arrestee, 'Innocent': Attorney

LONG ISLAND, NY — An attorney for Isabella Deluca, a conservative social media influencer from Setauket arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection in the U.S. Capitol, proclaimed her innocence and said the charges brought against her were politically motivated.

Deluca is accused of going inside a restricted area of the building and helping pass a table out of a window for rioters to use against the police, a complaint and arrest warrant filed by a federal agent shows.

In an email, her new attorney, Anthony Sabatini of Mount Dora, FL, had this to say, "My statement is this … She is innocent, and the Biden administration will do anything it takes to arrest and jail influential, conservative voices like her own."

The U.S. Attorney's office declined comment.

A Give Send Go account has raised $23,284 toward Deluca's legal defense.

Deluca, who has thousands of followers on X and Instagram, was arrested on March 15 in Irvine, CA, on misdemeanor charges "related to her conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, and has a last known address in Setauket," a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office previously told Patch.

She has been free without bail, court documents show.

Her Facebook page says that she now lives in Washington, D.C., and serves as the outreach director for Republicans for National Renewal.

A spokeswoman for Stony Brook University said she attended the university from the Fall 2020 to Fall 2022, and graduated in December 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

She started work as a volunteer media associate for The Gold Institute for International Strategy in May 2023, updating the online social media profile of GIIS, by posting appropriate information at websites known to be, or plausibly thought to be, useful for GIIS to start, maintain or grow a media presence, the company's president, Eli M. Gold told Patch.

"It was not until we received email media requests of March 18, 2024, that we learned that Miss Deluca had been present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and was facing criminal charges for her alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot," Gold wrote in an email.

"Following further internal investigation, we felt it necessary to sever our relationship," he said.

Deluca's profile on the institute’s website, which is since removed, said she served as an ambassador for the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, The Associated Press reported.

She interned for former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican who supported former president Donald Trump, the outlet reported.

A representative for Zeldin said she held an unpaid position working for a staffer in a district office, but said the office had no knowledge that she was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Newsday reported.

Patch has reached out to Zeldin for comment.

Deluca has around 126,000 followers on Instagram and 343,800 followers on X.

She addressed her arrest in a post on X on March 20.

"As many of you already know, I am facing the unwarranted and targeted persecution by the DOJ and FBI at the direction of the Biden administration like many J6ers. To say it's a shock is the understatement of the century.

"Being handcuffed and shackled isn't something I ever thought I would experience."

"Yet, through it all, I remain and will remain steadfast in my convictions," she wrote. "This experience for me, has only served to shed light on the challenges conservative Americans, Christians, and Trump supporters face daily."

She then goes on to say, whatever comes her way, "though it may be difficult," she is prepared "to face it."

"Together, we will get through this," she continued.

"Thank you so much for the love and support," she concluded. "Reading your messages has already gotten me through some difficult days."

In other posts since her arrest, she has shown video of herself smiling set to music, including one where she is standing in a kitchen as "Everything I Want" by IconicDior plays while pages from the bible flip by with the words, "Do not be afraid," highlighted.