CLEVELAND — Former Cleveland Metropolitan School District therapist Christine Priola, who was sentenced for her involvement in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots, was released early from prison.
In an email to 3News, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) says Priola was released from custody on Sept. 5. She had been in community confinement overseen by the FBOP’s Cincinnati Residential Reentry Management (RRM) Office.
In Oct. 2022, Priola was sentenced to 15 months in prison for obstruction of an official proceeding, plus aiding and abetting. She began serving her prison term at the secure female facility inside the Federal Correctional Institute Hazleton in West Virginia one month later.
Priola, a Willoughby resident, wound up serving nine months of her 15-month prison sentence. She had faced a statutory maximum of 20 years behind bars.
According to court documents, Priola was spotted making her way to the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, while carrying a large sign expressing her views before illegally entering the restricted area on the east side of the Capitol Building.
After joining the front line of the riot in support of then President Donald Trump, Priola is alleged to have climbed the steps before entering the Capitol Building through the East Rotunda Doors. Shortly after the first rioters overcame law enforcement officers guarding the entrance, she went inside and moved to the Senate chamber and entered the restricted floor area.
Inside the chamber, she carried the same sign she was spotted carrying outside. She was in the Senate chamber for about 10 minutes and inside the Capitol Building for approximately 30 minutes.
Priola is also alleged to have deleted her data for photos, videos, chats, and messages from her cellphone from approximately Jan. 4 through Jan. 7, 2021.
Footage from 2021 showed Priola outside her old Willoughby home, shouting ideologies that align with QAnon conspiracy theories of government child sex trafficking. She said she was forced to sell that home amid the fallout from the riot and moved into her mother's basement.
Priola was employed by CMSD as an occupational therapist at the time of the riot before resigning one day later. In her resignation letter, she cited her desire to switch career paths to focus on exposing human trafficking and pedophilia and not wanting to take a COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to in-person school. She added that she did not support paying union dues that she claims are used to "fund people and groups that support the killing of unborn children."
She was arrested one week later.
Previous Reporting:
- Northeast Ohio woman sentenced to 15 months in prison for involvement in Jan. 6 riot at US Capitol
- Former CMSD employee asks for mercy ahead of sentencing for her role in Jan 6. Capitol riot
- Former Cleveland schools employee pleads guilty to charge for her role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot
- Former Cleveland schools employee charged for alleged role in riot at U.S. Capitol