A 72-year-old Colorado bed-and-breakfast owner, known online as the “J6 praying grandma,” is vowing to appeal after she was ordered to pay a fine of roughly $100,000 and serve a sentence of six months of home confinement for her role in the Capitol riot.
Despite prosecutors pushing for 10 months in prison, a federal judge opted to sentence Colorado resident Rebecca Lavrenz on Monday to home confinement, citing an apparent need to curb her “profiting” from the incident through various media appearances. She was previously convicted by a 12-member jury on April 9 of three felonies related to the riot, including “disorderly” conduct in and around the Capitol complex on Jan. 6, 2021.
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said Lavrenz undermined public trust in the justice system with her comments about the Jan. 6 prosecutions. He acknowledged that her case was less severe but stressed that it was nevertheless a serious offense. Although Faruqui decided against jail time, he imposed a $103,000 fine, suggesting she should be punished for fundraising off of her conviction.
