North Carolina Oath Keepers leader pleads guilty to sedition in Jan. 6 case

A regional leader of the far-right Oath Keepers organization has pleaded guilty to sedition and obstruction of an official proceeding in connection with the Jan 6., 2021, Capitol attack.

In a press release on Wednesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that William Todd Wilson of Newton Grove, N.C., pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy for his role in the riot. 

According to court documents, the DOJ said, Wilson was a member of the Oath Keepers since 2016 and led the far-right group’s Sampson County, N.C., chapter.

He admitted in his plea that he took part in a plan to use force to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election, the DOJ said.

The department said Wilson and others used encrypted and private communications, exchanging numerous messages weeks prior to the attack using a messaging application called Signal. Two of the messages Wilson sent in December 2020 said, “It is time to fight!” and “Things are about to get real . . . and we need to be ready as ever!” 

Wilson then arrived in Washington, D.C., the day prior to the attack armed with a variety of weapons, including an AR-15-style rifle, a 9-millimeter pistol, up to 200 rounds of ammunition, pepper spray, a pocketknife and a large walking stick intended to be used as a weapon, the DOJ said, citing court documents.

On the day of the riot, Wilson and others marched to the Capitol, and shortly after 2 p.m. the group unlawfully passed around barricades and authorities to enter the building’s restricted grounds.

By about thirty-eight minutes later, Wilson had marched through the Capitol Rotunda to the east portion of the building, where the DOJ said he took part, along with other rioters, in trying to push open the Rotunda Doors from inside the building. The opening of the doors roughly a minute later allowed more rioters, including other members of the Oath Keepers, to enter, the department said.

The DOJ said Wilson exited the building at 2:55 p.m. and met with other conspirators at a Virginia-area restaurant, where the department said one person advised that everyone should delete incriminating materials from their cellular phones. 

Wilson tried to conceal incriminating evidence from being stored on his Apple iCloud account the next day, according to the DOJ, and later threw his cell phone into the Atlantic Ocean in what the department said was an effort to prevent authorities from finding evidence in his case.

This comes as authorities have arrested nearly 800 individuals in connection with the Capitol riot, which resulted in the deaths of five people. More than 250 of those individuals have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

Wilson, who faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the two counts he pled guilty to, is the third Oath Keepers member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction charges in connection with the Capitol attack, the DOJ noted.

Wilson, 44, also agreed to cooperate with authorities in their ongoing investigation of the riot. A sentencing date has not yet been determined, the department said.