S.C. man who led a crowd during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and shouted “Where are you, Nancy” pleads guilty

The 41-year-old Greer man who led rioters during the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol and shouted, “Where are you, Nancy?” pleaded guilty to a crime of obstructing law enforcement during the riots.

William “Robbie” Norwood III pleaded guilty Thursday before U.S. Judge Carl Nichols in U.S. District Court in Washington. Nichols will sentence Norwood on February 21.

Under Norwood’s plea agreement with the government, the crime carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing guidelines estimates in Norwood’s case indicate he could receive a prison sentence of eight to 14 months. The estimated fine ranges from $4,000 to $40,000.

Norwood is the 22nd South Carolinian to plead guilty to charges brought during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. A jury found another South Carolinian guilty. Charges against five other people are currently awaited. Like many defendants during the riots, Norwood was turned in by a friend shocked by his actions after hearing him brag about them. Video recordings of Norwood were also evidence in the case.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Norwood, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, was in Washington, D.C., attending Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, when he joined rioters at the Capitol who intended to disrupt a joint session of Congress. court records. At that time, Congress met to count the electoral votes, a necessary step to confirm Joe Biden’s election as president.

Norwood led other rioters in pressing on the doors that police were closing and eventually forced them open, which “allowed hundreds of rioters to enter the Capitol building from the outside,” according to a statement of facts in his case.

During the riot, Norwood also shot selfie videos of himself entering offices on Capitol Hill, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, and shouting things such as “Where are you in Nancy?” and “Go home, police!” and “Goodbye, buddy.”

Norwood also recorded a one-minute video inside the Capitol Rotunda that shows a line of Metropolitan Police Department officers.

“During the recording, Norwood can be heard saying, ‘Oh, they’re… trying to push us out. . . . Should we get our house back? Our home. You’re all a bunch of p-. It’s about to fall, brother. Norwood then turns the camera on himself and says, “It’s about to end. Because I will go to the (unintelligible) guns or their asps and attack these mk- later. No bullshit, no, no,” reads a press release from the Department of Justice.

Norwood also retrieved a Capitol Police helmet and plate carrier from a dumpster outside the building. The findings of fact in the case show that the helmet and plate carrier were valued at approximately $578.

Norwood lied to agents by claiming that he had left his helmet and equipment carrier in a locker in a hotel room in Washington, when in fact he had taken the helmet and equipment carrier with him to South Carolina and hid them in a parked portable trailer on a friend’s property, according to the facts.

Norwood, arrested in February 2021, was one of the first South Carolinians charged in the wake of the January 6 riots. Since then, 27 more people have been arrested.

Norwood was one of the first rioters to enter the Capitol, entering the building at 2:23 p.m., just minutes after the Secret Service forced then-Vice President Pence from the Senate chamber.

Pence was on Capitol Hill that day to preside over a joint session of Congress. The electoral votes, which were counted the same evening, with a five-hour delay, showed that Trump lost to Biden.

Despite more than 60 lawsuits in swing states that found there was no voting fraud, and numerous recounts and vote audits, there is no evidence of any fraud large enough to tip the scales in Trump’s favor. Trump, now the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, continues to make false claims that he won the election and has hinted that if re-elected president, he may release or pardon those convicted in the January 6 riots.

In nearly all 50 states, a total of more than 1,532 people have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol breach, according to the Department of Justice, including more than 571 people charged with assault or obstructing law enforcement, which are felonies.

The FBI’s investigation remains ongoing.