Kentucky woman pleads guilty, admits spraying pepper spray at officers during Capitol riot

A Kentucky woman has pleaded guilty to several offenses related to her participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including spraying pepper spray at police officers.

Forty-three-year-old Shelly Stallings of Morganfield entered the plea late last week in a federal court in Washington, D.C.

Stallings pleaded guilty to civil disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building with a deadly weapon; disorderly conduct in the capitol grounds or building; and committing an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.

For all seven charges, Stallings could face up to 56 years imprisonment, $1,251,000 in fines, 15 years supervised release, and $550 in special assessment fees.

Stallings forced entry to the Capitol building on Jan. 6, and encouraged and assisted in acts of breaking windows and assaulting members of law enforcement, according to court documents.

Documents state that on the morning of Jan. 6, Stallings and her husband, Peter Schwartz, who was charged and arrested as a co-defendant in the case, traveled to Washington D.C. to protest Congress’ certification of the vote of 2020 presidential election.

When Stallings and Schwartz arrived at the Capitol as part of the “Stop the Steal” rally, Schwartz sprayed police officers in the face, according to court documents.

“At the time that Schwartz sprayed the (pepper) spray, the defendant did not appear to be under attack or otherwise in need of protection from any other person,” the document reads. “At the time (Stallings) observed Schwartz spray the (pepper) spray, he did not appear to be defending himself, (Stallings), or any other person.”

During the riot, Stallings was handed a canister of pepper spray and “briefly” sprayed it at officers who were trying to protect the Capitol, according to court documents.

In the statement of offenses, Stallings admits she obstructed officers, forcibly resisted, intimated, and used a deadly weapon in a restricted area she was not permitted to be.

She was arrested in February on 13 original charges. Schwartz had already been arrested at the time that Stallings was detained, according to the Department of Justice. Schwartz was arrested in Pennsylvania in February 2021. He was accused of pepper spraying officers and allegedly said in a Facebook post that the Capitol Riot was “the opening of a war,” according to court records.

Stallings was named an additional defendant in a superseding indictment returned in the District of Columbia in a case which includes Stallings, Schwartz and two other defendants. The other defendants are Markus Maly, 47, of Fincastle, Va., and Jeffrey Brown, 55, of Santa Ana, Calif. All four are accused of pepper spraying at a line of police officers in an attempt to secure the area of the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol building.

Stallings is on release pending her sentencing, according to court records. She’s scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 13.

She is one of 19 other Kentucky residents who have been charged in connection to the riot.