A Lake in the Hills woman has pleaded guilty this week to charges in connection with the deadly January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C.
Nhi Ngoc Mai Le, 26, of Lake in the Hills, was charged in September in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with two counts of entering or remaining in an unrestricted building or grounds, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
A criminal complaint filed by an FBI agent said an anonymous tipster reported to the FBI National Threat Operations Center that a woman identified as Mai Le was present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The woman posted several photos on her Facebook account of herself at a rally in Washington, D.C. and inside the U.S. Capitol building.
The tipster sent the FBI a link to Mai Le’s Facebook account and investigators confirmed it indeed belonged to her.
FBI agents went to Mai Le’s workplace in Johnsburg in April 2021 and she said she flew to Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, to attend a rally.
Mai Le denied entering the U.S. Capitol on that day, the complaint said.
FBI agents obtained a Facebook group chat that included Mai Le.
The woman told other group chat members that she climbed a wall to reach the Capitol building and was pepper-sprayed.
Mai Le also told them that another person was fatally shot while she was inside the building, the complaint said.
She shared several short videos in the group chat. One was a video of herself next to the damaged Parliamentarian Door before it was breached.
A video was also taken inside the office to the left of the Parliamentarian Door where she captured herself in a mirror. Another video was taken inside a Brumidi Corridor.
FBI agents again interviewed Mai Le in February 2022 and she admitted to her actions at the Capitol.
Agents obtained a Facebook post from January 5, 2021, where Mai Le posted a photo along with a caption that read, “D.C. We are coming… Fight for Trump… Save America.”
Additional photos and video reviewed by agents clearly captured Mai Le inside the Capitol.
Court records show Mai Le was arrested in early September, processed and released on a personal recognizance bond.
She initially pleaded not guilty in the case but recently entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Mai Le pleaded guilty to one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds in exchange for her two other charges being dismissed.
The charges she pleaded guilty to carry a maximum sentence of six months in prison on each count.
A judge is set to issue Mai Le’s sentence during a sentencing hearing on February 26.