Gilroy woman sentenced for participating in Jan. 6 riot at US Capitol
GILROY, Calif. (KION-TV) UPDATE 2/23/2110:29 A.M.-- A Gilroy woman who stated the "war just started" in a video taken after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
Imelda Acosta, better known by her social media name "Mariposa Castro," live-streamed the 2021 riot for over 40 minutes and captured attacks on police that day.
Acosta was also fined $5,000 in addition to her 45-day sentence and during her hearing, she stated she "got caught up in all the energy" that day.
Acosta had previously pleaded guilty to unlawfully protesting.
"I wish I could have yelled and screamed more about love" and peace, Acosta said, "There's no need for war if we only just spread love."
"That day you seemed to be calling for war," Judge Reggie Walton interjected. "Contrary to what you're saying now ... you seemed to be happy about what was going on. You did not seem to be a peace-loving person. You seemed to be someone who was seeking to inspire others."
The prosecutor stated that Acosta decided to join rioters at the Capitol after watching news reports from her hotel room.
After another rioter said "Traitors will be shot. Pence, we're coming," Acosta added "We're coming" and "This is war.
"If I can do this, you guys can do this," she later encouraged those watching her videos.
More than 740 people have been arrested in the Capitol breach case, 106 people have been sentenced.
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ORIGINAL STORY
The Federal Bureau of Investigations has been working to identify and charge the people suspected of being involved in the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol, and they have charged a Gilroy woman.
In a criminal complaint, the FBI said investigators interviewed a person on Jan. 8 who provided a tip that Gilroy resident Mariposa Castro had participated in the riots. She is reportedly "well-known in the community for her counter-protest activities."
The person who submitted a tip said they were part of a social media group that has discussed Castro's activities and saw images and videos that she uploaded to social media. Based on the information, the FBI was able to find several social media accounts attributed to Mariposa Castro, also known as Imelda Castro.
The FBI shared screenshots of two social media posts in the criminal complaint that she appears to have made, suggesting that she was at the Capitol during the riots.
She also allegedly posted videos to Facebook, and the FBI said one of them showed her climbing through a window at the Capitol and saying, "I'm going in. I’m going in, I’m going in the Capitol. We’re in! We’re inside the Capitol house. We got inside the Capitol.” In others, she reportedly spoke about gasses being released inside the building.
The FBI described multiple videos posted to Castro's Facebook page showing her in and around the Capitol in the criminal complaint.
When the FBI became aware of the videos, agents interviewed someone near Castro's home in Gilroy. The person they interviewed told them Castro had shared plans to travel to Washington, DC, and they were able to confirm her travel plans with travel records. The FBI found that she had traveled to the city the day before the riot.
After verifying Castro's identity and reviewing her yoga studio's Instagram account, agents tried to contact her at her Gilroy home on Jan. 15, but they said she did not come to the door.
Castro is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Read the full criminal complaint below.
