Virginia couple pleads guilty to misdemeanor charges linked to Capitol riot

A Virginia husband and wife pleaded guilty on Monday to misdemeanor charges stemming from the Capitol riot, according to multiple reports.

Jessica and Joshua Bustle of Bristow each pleaded guilty in federal court to one of four misdemeanor charges they faced, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Under the deal with prosecutors, they could receive up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. 

“There’s no guarantee what the sentence will be in this case,” Judge Thomas Hogan told the couple during a Monday hearing, Politico reported. “I can give a sentence that’s legal up to the maximum in the statute: six months.” 

The judge on Monday said he would set a sentencing date for the couple in four to six weeks. 

Jessica Bustle in a Facebook post on Jan. 6 wrote that former Vice President Mike Pence “is a traitor” and shared that “we stormed the capital,” according to a statement of facts from the FBI filed in March. 

“It’s insane here,” she added in the post, adding, “Pray for America!!!!” 

She also said on Facebook that when she and her husband “decided to head over to the capitol we were let in.”

“Like literally, my husband and I just WALKED right in with tons of other people,” she added.

“The cops were nice,” she said. “We were talking with them INSIDE of the capitol about not taking the CV vas and they agreed with us. There were no guns, weapons, and no violence. In fact, when we finally decided to go in after about 45min of it being wide open, there was a wooden podium UNTOUCHED just sitting there in the middle of trump supporters supposedly causing so much mayhem.” 

Jessica Bustle also posted a photo of herself in Washington, D.C., holding a sign that read, “Mandatory medical procedures have no place in a free society.”

The statement of facts from the FBI found that Jessica and Joshua Bustle entered the Capitol through the east entrance to the Rotunda. Joshua Bustle appeared to film his wife carrying a sign.

In April, a founding member of the right-wing paramilitary group the Oath Keepers pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the Capitol riot, the first such defendant to enter into a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The man, Jon Ryan Schaffer, pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of an official proceeding and one count of entering a restricted building with a dangerous weapon.