The FBI has added the mysterious woman known on social media as “Pink Beret” to its Jan. 6 most-wanted list, two months after a defense attorney suggested the woman could be a government cooperator who lured a defendant into the Capitol.
Although the woman and her actions on Jan. 6 have been widely discussed on social media, she was not added to the FBI wanted page until April 27, some 27 months after the Capitol incursion.
Neely was charged in a superseding indictment on Oct. 12, 2022, with six federal crimes: obstruction of a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; theft of government property with less than $1,000 value; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct to obstruct Congress; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
West’s motion states that Pink Beret was seen elsewhere outside and inside the Capitol, alone and with other individuals. On the Upper West Terrace, she stood atop a small staircase “directing people like [conductor Arturo] Toscanini into the Capitol,” West alleged.
‘Conjecture and Supposition’
“Mr. Neely needs to know who she is and why she was there,” West said. “He also needs to understand if he was targeted by her that day and for what purpose.”While the FBI is now looking for Pink Beret, federal prosecutors want to limit Neely’s ability to bring her up in his defense case at trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barclay wrote that Neely “does not adduce any facts indicating that the woman in the pink beret is in fact a member of or worked with law enforcement.”
“Defendant’s opposition brief spills much ink describing the actions of this woman on January 6, 2021, seizing on her distinctive clothing, peculiarities of her conduct inside the Capitol, and interactions with other rioters,” Barclay wrote, “including facts that are equally, if not more, compatible with the woman being an eager participant in the riot.
“Relying on conjecture and supposition, defendant leaps to the conclusion that this woman must be a member of law enforcement,” Barclay wrote.
West wrote that because her client was led into the Capitol by Pink Beret, locating her is of paramount importance to Neely’s case.
“They enter hand in hand and stop to take photos,” West wrote in a court filing. “Pink Beret is smiling the whole time with no indication she has just met Mr. Neely only moments before.”
Once inside the Capitol, Pink Beret exhibited peculiar behavior, according to West.
“It is in the Capitol Visitors’ Center that things start to get strange. Pink Beret immediately turns around when Neely isn’t looking and runs to the escalator shaft,” West wrote. “She ducks down and removes her beret and continues up the escalator in a crouched position.”
Neely faces a May 22 trial date. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for May 13.
