A San Clemente woman was sentenced this week to probation and community service for her role in the breach of the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Lois Lynn McNicoll, 70, received two years probation and 80 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay $500 in restitution after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol.

Under the plea deal McNicoll accepted, she faced up to six months behind bars and five months probation. In return for her guilty plea, several other, more serious criminal counts were dismissed, including disruptive conduct in a restricted building and violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

McNicoll — who was working at the time at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Services but has since retired — flew from California to Washington to hear then-President Donald Trump speak and to show her support for him. After his speech, McNicoll joined a group of Trump supporters who marched to the Capitol building.

McNicoll admitted to walking through the Senate Wing Door into the Capitol building, where she stopped to talk to other people and record videos of her surroundings before continuing into the Capitol Crypt. She acknowledged spending about half an hour in the Capitol building before being told to leave by police officers.

There was no indication that McNicoll took part in any violence or destruction of property.

A fellow county employee recognized McNicoll from TV news footage and notified law enforcement. Federal investigators later identified her from closed-circuit TV footage from the Capitol that showed her wearing a white hat emblazoned with the name “Trump” and a red-and-white flag draped over her shoulders bearing the words “Trump Country.”

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Federal prosecutors in a sentencing brief wrote that McNicoll’s conduct occurred during a larger, violent that disrupted a session of Congress and delayed the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. The prosecutors wrote that McNicoll should have been aware that she wasn’t allowed to enter the Capitol building, noting that her previous Los Angeles County employment would have made her “familiar with government buildings, security measures required to enter them, and the importance of restricted access to sensitive government areas and work spaces.”

McNicoll’s attorney wrote in her own sentencing brief that McNicoll’s “conduct should place her into the least offensive, lease egregious category of January 6 defendants.”

“Her participation in the events at the Capitol was unplanned, she was entirely non-violent, she made no political statements, and she made no social media posts,” Deputy Federal Public Defender Lillian Chu wrote. “Ms. McNicoll did not join any ‘mobs,’ only walked in circles around the crypt and never ventured near the Senate or House Floors or entered any offices. She left the Capitol when asked to do so by police and followed the curfew order when she heard there would be one.”

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