A former Lake in the Hills woman has been sentenced to 10 days in prison after she pleaded guilty to participating in the January 6 breach at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C.
Nhi Ngoc Mai Le, 27, a former Lake in the Hills resident, 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, who now lives in Montgomery and is a nail salon owner, 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.
Prosecutors called January 6 a “violent attack” that forced an interruption of Congress’s certification of the 2020 Electoral College vote count, threatened the transfer of power after the 2020 Presidential election, injured more than 100 police officers and resulted in more than 2.9 million dollars in losses.
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 entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors in November.
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.
Prosecutors sought a 45-day prison sentence, 36 months of probation and 60 hours of community service.
Mai Le’s attorney said his client did not destroy property or participate in assaultive conduct while inside the U.S. Capitol.
The attorney also said misinformation had led Mai Le to believe the United States was in danger of a Communist takeover and that she has since accepted her responsibility for her unlawful conduct and is “whole heartedly remorseful.”
District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan sentenced Mai Le to concurrent terms of 10 days in prison, with no probation period, during a sentencing hearing on Monday.
The judge allowed Mai Le, who is a mother to a three-month-old, to delay her self-surrender by nine months. She will also be required to pay a $1,000 fine and $500 in restitution.