Doylestown Woman Admits To Entering US Capitol During Jan. 6 Riot

DOYLESTOWN, PA — A Doylestown woman who filmed herself after breaking into the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court.

Dawn Bancroft, who owns Cross Fit Sine-Pari in Plumstead Township, threatened violence against Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the video, which she sent to a friend, according to federal prosecutors.

“We broke into the Capitol … We got inside. We did our part,” she said in the video. “We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain, but we didn’t find her.”

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Bancroft faces up to six months in prison after pleading guilty to unlawfully protesting on restricted grounds, a misdemeanor, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

She told a federal judge Tuesday that her remark towards Pelosi was a “stupid, juvenile comment” and that she did not mean to threaten the longtime Democratic leader, the report states.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan questioned why federal prosecutors did not pursue charges against Bancroft for threatening a member of Congress and instead allowed her to plead guilty to a low-level misdemeanor, the Inquirer reports.

Bancroft had faced charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in any restricted building or grounds, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, as previously reported.

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Federal prosecutors said they did not pursue more serious charges because the video Bancroft filmed showed she was leaving the Capitol as she made the threat, the Inquirer reports.

Bancroft sent that video to a friend, who submitted it to the FBI less than a week after the Capitol riots, according to the report.

Bancroft told the FBI in January that she entered the U.S. Capitol during the riots through a broken window and estimated she was inside the building for about 30 seconds, as previously reported.

Diana Santos-Smith, who was pictured in the background of Bancroft’s video, told the FBI that she and Bancroft did not plan to enter the Capitol but followed a crowd inside after hearing people say “they’re letting us in.”

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Santos-Smith also pleaded guilty Tuesday to unlawfully protesting on restricted grounds, as did Gary Edwards, of Churchville, the Inquirer reports.

Edwards was arrested for participating in the Capitol riot after his wife posted on Facebook to defend his actions. The FBI received tips against Edwards in the form of screenshots of his wife's posts, which said "my husband was there inside the Capitol Rotunda" and provided a brief description of what happened.

Fifty-five Pennsylvanians have been charged for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and 11 have pleaded guilty, as of Tuesday, the Inquirer reports.