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Felicia Konold and her brother Cory Konold are seen at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (via FBI court filings).
A brother-sister pair from Arizona who joined a group of Proud Boys from Kansas to overrun police guarding the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 deserve to spend months behind bars, according to federal prosecutors.
Felicia Konold, 29, and her younger brother Cory Konold, 28, have admitted to joining a surging crowd of Donald Trump supporters facing off against a line of U.S. Capitol Police officers. The force of that crowd overwhelmed the police line, and the siblings made their way to the front of the crowd and were among the first to climb over toppled barricades at the Lower West Plaza. They refused to leave despite being told by cops to disperse and joined with other rioters in pushing a series of barricades against police at the base of scaffolding set up for President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
The Konolds eventually entered the building via the Senate Wing Door around 10 minutes after the initial violent breach. The presence of rioters in the Capitol brought the certification of Biden’s electoral win to a temporary halt, forcing lawmakers and staffers to flee or shelter in place for hours.
The siblings went to the Crypt and the Capitol Visitor Center, eventually exiting the building through the Senate Wing Door. While inside, Cory Konold stole a USCP riot helmet and, according to the DOJ, brought it home with him, although he later told a family member to hand it over to law enforcement.
The Konolds pleaded guilty in November to one count each of felony obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and aiding and abetting. They each faced up to five years in prison. Prosecutors think that they deserve significantly less than that.
In a sentencing memo filed Wednesday, the government requested that U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, send Cory Konold to prison for three months, and Felicia Konold to prison for six months. Prosecutors want both siblings to serve three years of supervised release and pay $2,000 in restitution toward the estimated $2.9 million in losses and damage resulting from the riot.
The government’s sentencing memo notes that Felicia Konold’s own diary entries reflect a degree of preparation for the riot and that her “pre-planning notes” show that she “fully anticipated that she would be engaged in violence.”
Indeed, Felicia Konold’s list of items to bring to the capital include bear spray, gauze, bandages, pain medications, Vaseline, and “quick clot,” an apparent reference to a stop-bleeding aid.
Notably, that itemized list followed a diary entry of an entirely different sort: a recipe for what she called “3 x 3” chili.
A combination of spices and vegetables — including “low sodium” canned corn — plus “a little tiny bit of habanero peppers” combined to become what she calls her “3 Day chili, AKA: 3×3.”
“3 days to make! 3 days to EAT!” she wrote, according to the government’s filing.
Felicia Konold’s diary entries show her recipe for chili across from her preparation for going to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (via FBI court filings)
In the following pages, Felicia Konold was contemplating her place in history as she prepared to join the disgruntled masses in the nation’s capital.
“I do not want to leave my son, or my brother, its tearing my heart, but i must protect the future,” she wrote in what the government says was her last diary entry before Jan. 6. “For all of humanities sake … This is what my life purpose is, to make sure good TRUMPS Evil.”
“I’ve been missing my life purpose as far back as i can remember,” she wrote. “I have that now.”
Felicia Konold’s diary entries (via FBI court filing).
“I never could have imagined having that much of an influence on the events that unfolded today,” she posted, according to prosecutors. “Dude, people were willing to follow. You f—— lead, and everyone had my back, dude … We f—— did it.”
Prosecutors say that Cory Konold’s wrongdoing at the Capitol that day was in large part due to the influence of his older sister.
“Cory’s actions at the Capitol, as compared to Felicia’s, were less egregious and appear more akin to those of someone tagging along with his sister, the driving force of the pair,” the government said of the man who took home a police riot helmet after the melee.
Federal evaluators recommend a sentencing guidelines range of zero to six months for both siblings. The Konolds’ sentencing is set for Jan. 24.
The Konold siblings’ codefendants included William Chrestman, who was recently ordered to serve more than four years behind bars for wielding a wooden ax handle and stopping a barrier gate from lowering at the Capitol, and Ryan Ashlock, who faced off against police on Capitol grounds but did not go into the building itself.
