Trump pardons Will County residents convicted of crimes tied to Jan. 6 riot

A Lockport woman who partially blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for her role in the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot is among five people from Will County who’ve been pardoned for their crimes on the first day of Trump’s second term in office.

Trump signed an executive order on Monday granting “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to hundreds of people who’ve been convicted of offenses “related to the events that occurred” on Jan. 6, 2021 “at or near” the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

The 2021 riot was a “violent attack” that forced an “interruption of the certification” of the 2020 Electoral College vote count and threatened the “peaceful transfer of power” after former U.S. President Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020, according to federal prosecutors.

The riot led to injuries to “more than one hundred law enforcement officers” and it also resulted in “more than one million dollars’ worth of property damage,” prosecutors said.

More than 140 police officers were injured in the attack on the U.S. Capitol that day. Five police officers died following the events of Jan. 6 – one from a stroke as a result of injuries suffered and four by suicide.

In Will County, there are at least five people who’ve pleaded guilty to federal charges connected to the incident, according to a database from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington.

Those include Crest Hill couple Amy and John Schubert Jr., Lockport couple Kelly Lynn Fontaine and Brian Dula, and Anthony Carollo, of Lockport.

Only Fontaine was sentenced to serve jail time. The others received probation.

Trump’s pardon of the Jan. 6 rioters is part of his campaign to rewrite the history of the attack and he has characterized the rioters as “patriots” and “hostages,” according to a report on Tuesday from the Associated Press.

Trump’s actions on Monday have also led to the prison release of leaders of far-right extremist groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

John “Johnny” Schubert III, of Bradenton, Florida, the son of John Schubert Jr. and stepson of Amy Schubert, was at the 2021 riot as well. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to “assaulting, resisting, or impeding” officers at the 2021 riot, court records show.

Prosecutors said John Schubert III joined a melee where he threw his left shoulder and body into a U.S. Capitol police officer and hurled his right fist at the officer.

John Schubert III has been incarcerated at a prison in Sumterville, Florida, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website. He was set for release on Nov. 10.

Amy Schubert was identified by law enforcement after she was seen on a video wearing a jacket that said, “Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union 422 Joliet IL.”

Federal prosecutors said there was no evidence Amy Schubert and John Schubert Jr. engaged in any violence or property destruction.

Prosecutors said Amy Schubert expressed remorse for her actions and she said, “I never want to disgrace this country again and I’m sorry for my mistake.”

The couple showed “contrition but it appears that some of that remorse is based in getting arrested,” prosecutors said.

Fontaine has been serving 21 days at the Federal Detention Center Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was set for release on Wednesday.

In a court filing, Fontaine’s attorney, Daniel Hesler, said the “simplest explanation” for why Fontaine and her husband, Bryan Dula traveled on Jan. 6, 2021 to Washington, D.C was “because Donald Trump invited them.”

Hesler said Trump and “others working in concert with him did everything in their power” to make people believe the election was stolen and “helping Donald Trump helped America.”

“[Trump] strategically appealed to the same kinds of impulses in [Fontaine and Dula] that in previous generations inspired hundreds of thousands of Americans to enlist to fight and die in World War II,” Hesler said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Smith said Fontaine took a selfie during the riot and gave a “thumbs up to the chaos surrounding her, with the area of the Senate Wing Doors and the Parliamentarian Door visible in the background,” according to court records.

Smith said that after Fontaine and Dula left Washington, Fontaine used social media to minimize the “severity of the acts that day,” spread misinformation about what occurred and “publicly spin a narrative that she and the other rioters weren’t at fault.”