Missouri man pleads guilty to stealing Speaker Pelosi’s office sign during Capitol riot
A Missouri man who prosecutors said along with his niece stole House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office name plate during the Capitol riot pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to theft of government property.
William Merry Jr., of St. Louis, entered the plea in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia during a hearing held by phone and video conference on the eve of the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection.
“How do you plead then, to the charge of theft of government property?” U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg asked Merry. “Guilty or not guilty?”
“Guilty,” Merry replied.
His sentencing for the single misdemeanor count is scheduled for March 21. Merry faces a maximum penalty of one year in jail, a $100,000 fine and one year of supervised release. He also must pay $500 in restitution for damage to the Capitol building, which prosecutors say totaled about $1.5 million.
Merry’s niece, Emily Hernandez, of Sullivan, Missouri, was arrested on Jan. 15, becoming the first Missouri resident to face charges in the Capitol riot case. Merry was charged Feb. 4 along with Paul S. Westover, of Lake St. Louis. The three allegedly breached the Capitol together. Both Hernandez and Merry were accused of taking Pelosi’s name plate.
Merry, 63, was originally charged with four misdemeanors: theft of government property; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct which impedes the conduct of government business; and disruptive conduct in the Capitol buildings. The government dropped three of those charges in exchange for his guilty plea.
According to court documents, Merry stole “a shard of a sign previously designating Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite within the U.S. Capitol, which has a value of less than $1000.”
Westover was originally charged with a felony and three misdemeanors but pleaded guilty last month to a single misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 16.
Hernandez was charged Jan. 15 with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct which impedes the conduct of government business; stealing, selling, conveying or disposing of U.S. property; disruptive conduct in the capitol buildings; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the capitol buildings.
On Dec. 29, prosecutors filed a new document charging Hernandez with a single misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and a plea agreement hearing has been scheduled for Monday.
Merry is the ninth of 18 Missouri residents charged in the Capitol riot case to enter a guilty plea. St. Louis County resident Nicholas Reimler pleaded guilty on Sept. 17 to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building and was sentenced to three years’ probation. Zachary and Kelsey Wilson of Springfield each pleaded guilty to the same “parading” charge on Sept. 27, as did Carey Jon Walden of Kansas City on Oct. 26, Westover on Dec. 6 and Zachary Martin and brothers Michael and Stephen Quick of Springfield on Dec. 23.
Authorities have charged more than 700 people in connection with the Capitol invasion. So far, about a fourth of the defendants have pleaded guilty, the majority to misdemeanors, and about 70 have been sentenced.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Merry’s case, multiple tipsters contacted the FBI after the insurrection to identify a person seen in a widely circulated video that depicted rioters storming the Capitol building and streaming in and out of Pelosi’s office.
In the video, a man with a graying beard and wearing a red “Trump 2020” cap and red bandanna around his neck can be seen holding up a broken engraved piece of wood that appears to be from above the door in Pelosi’s office. The FBI identified the man as Merry and said Hernandez was standing next to him and raising up the same piece of fractured wood.
“On or about January 14, 2021, the FBI consulted with the House of Representatives’ curator to determine the value of the Speaker’s name plate that had been posted above her office,” the affidavit said. “The curator estimated that the cost to replace the name plate would be $870.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 10:57 AM.
