CLEVELAND (WJW) — A former school therapist in Cleveland has been arrested for her involvement in last week’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents.
Christine Priola is accused of knowingly entering and remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on capitol grounds, and unlawful activities on capitol grounds, according to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.
Priola was seen holding a sign saying, “Children Cry Out for Justice” near the seat of the vice president in the U.S. Senate chambers, the court documents said. She was identified based on an anonymous tip to the Cleveland Division of the FBI.
On Jan. 6, a mob breached the Capitol building in Washington, disrupting congressional proceedings to certify the electoral vote to make Joe Biden the next president. Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died in the riot and President Donald Trump was impeached for incitement of insurrection.
Law enforcement officers searched Priola’s house on Jan. 8. According to the criminal complaint, her phone placed her location near the U.S. Capitol building at about the time of the rioting.
Priola was an occupational therapist with Cleveland Metropolitan School District, where her teacher contracts date back to 2001. She submitted her resignation one day after the deadly siege.
“I will be switching paths to expose the global evil of human trafficking and pedophilia, including in our government and children’s services agencies,” Priola wrote in the letter to the school district.
