A Colorado woman known on social media as the "J6 Praying Grandma" was convicted of four federal misdemeanor counts last week in connection to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and could face up to a year in prison.
Rebecca Lavrenz, a 71-year-old great-grandmother who reportedly operates a bed and breakfast outside of Colorado Springs, was convicted by a 12-member jury in Washington, D.C., on Thursday of entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol, The Gazette reported. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 12, and Lavrenz reportedly could face up to a year in prison and fines of more than $200,000, excluding legal fees.
The woman told the Gazette that though she was "surprised" about the verdict, "I believe God wanted it to turn out this way so my voice could be amplified. We have to wake up our country."
"The whole reason I went to the Capitol was to pray," Lavrenz told the newspaper. "I didn’t get into this for myself, I was there to stand up for my country. God led me to go there and into the building to stand up for my First Amendment rights to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, wrote on TRUTH Social in the wake of the conviction that Lavrenz "has been unfairly targeted by Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, and now faces up to 1 YEAR in prison for peacefully walking around the Capitol, and praying for our Failing Nation on January 6th!"
Sharing a link to where people can donate to support Lavrenz’s legal expenses, Trump said the grandmother and "small business owner" is now "one of Joe Biden’s J6 HOSTAGES!!!"
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"Crooked Joe Biden spends more time prosecuting Patriots like Rebecca, AND ME, than Violent Criminals, Thugs, Murderers, and ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS who are destroying our Country. THIS IS WHAT WE ARE UP AGAINST. MAGA2024!" Trump concluded on TRUTH Social on Friday.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Justice Department for comment on Trump's posted remarks, but they did not immediately respond.
The Justice Department accused Lavrenz of spending just 10 minutes inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Court documents say the FBI conducted a "consensual interview" with Lavrenz at her home on April 6, 2021, when she allegedly admitted to agents that she had been in Washington, D.C., to participate in the "Stop the Steal" rally on the mall and followed the crowd to the U.S. Capitol building.
Lavrenz observed people getting into "physical confrontations" with police as the crowd grew, but "when a man finally succeeded in pushing past a barrier and entering the U.S. Capitol, Lavrenz observed that none of the police officers chased him," according to an arrest affidavit, as reported by The Gazette. She followed the crowd streaming past the barriers and into the Capitol's main door on the east side. As she stated, and as video footage supports, she spent about 10 minutes inside, roaming from the East center entrance to the Rotunda and back, speaking briefly with a U.S. Capitol Police officer, and exiting through the same door she entered.
