After three days of jury deliberation, an El Paso County woman who briefly entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 has been found guilty of four misdemeanor charges, officials announced Friday.
Rebecca Lavrenz, a 71-year-old woman from Falcon who goes by “J6 Praying Grandma“ on social media, was convicted on charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct inside a restricted building with the intent to disrupt government proceedings, disorderly conduct on Capitol property and picketing or demonstrating in the Capitol, according to federal court records.
All four charges were misdemeanors, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Denver Field Office said in a statement Friday.
Lavrenz’s sentencing date was not available in online court records Friday morning.
In the days following Jan. 6, 2021, multiple tipsters alerted the FBI that Lavrenz had been among the rioters who unlawfully entered the U.S. Capitol, according to court records.
FBI agents were able to link Lavrenz’s phone to the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 and identified her on surveillance camera footage, according to court records.
On April 26, 2021, agents conducted a consensual interview with Lavrenz in her home where she admitted to traveling to Washington, D.C., to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally and following the crowd to the U.S. Capitol building, the complaint stated.
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Lavrenz noticed barriers indicating the grounds were restricted when she and the group arrived at the Capitol building, but she decided to follow people inside after she saw police officers didn’t chase a man who broke past a barrier, according to court records.
The “prayer grandma” admitted to spending about 10 minutes inside the building — roaming from the east entrance to the Rotunda and back — before leaving. She also supplied federal investigators with a photo of herself in the Capitol during Jan. 6, according to court documents.
Lavrenz was arrested on Dec. 19, 2022, and her trial began on March 25 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in front of a 12-person jury.
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