To the FBI, she is a militant leader who traveled to Washington, DC and stormed the Capitol, encouraging others to do the same.
Jessica Watkins’ two worlds collided in the small town of Woodstock, Ohio, when FBI agents showed up early one morning to arrest her for her alleged role in the January 6 uprising.
‘We could hear so many sirens. And then we heard them scream for her to come down with her hands up and she didn’t, ”said Emma Dixon, who witnessed the pre-dawn raid from a house across the street.
When the FBI arrived in Woodstock, Watkins was not there. Her boyfriend, Montana Siniff was. He told CNN that disorienting flash bangs were used. A window was broken. Days later it stayed that way.
FBI agents questioned him and eventually left, he said. In a complaint filed in court, federal prosecutors said agents had recovered “ directions for making explosives, ” written by the Jolly Roger. Jolly Roger is also the name of the Watkins bar and a Facebook account believed to be linked to her, authorities say.
“That’s not true at all. She hates explosives. There is no moral or legal way to actually use explosives like a commoner,” Siniff said.
Watkins, 38, is now trapped in the Montgomery County Jail, about 50 miles away in Dayton, after turning herself in to authorities last Sunday.
Records indicate that Watkins served in the military under a different name from April 2001 to December 2003. It was deployed in Afghanistan from September to December 2002.
The three veterans were the first to be charged with conspiracy, some of the heaviest charges yet for those who entered the Capitol on January 6.
CNN has discovered that a disproportionate number of people accused of the Capitol attack are former military personnel.
‘The most beautiful’
No one disputes that Watkins went to the Capitol to protest the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory. She can be seen on video bragging about it while in the Capitol.
Her friend said she was “going to help protect some Trump VIP members at the rally,” but he didn’t know who.
After breaking through the Capitol, Watkins described the scene in the building as she saw it.
She added, “It was some people who started to hijack as a peaceful movement.”
But the words on her Parler account after the breach offer a completely different perspective. They are highlighted in the federal complaint against her.
‘Yes. We stormed the Capitol today. With tear gas, the whole, 9. Pushed our way to the Rotunda. Even won the Senate, ”she wrote.
Another post from Watkins used as evidence by the FBI said, “We never destroyed anything, stole nothing, burned nothing, and frankly we were very respectful of Capitol Hill PD until they attacked us. drew the line. ”
Watkins and many others came to Washington trained in warfare, some wearing their combat gear from ballistic helmets, army gear, and goggles.
Videos showed a group of more than a dozen people marching in formation, hands on each other’s shoulders, up the steps of the Capitol.
Federal prosecutors say Watkins and others used the Zello phone app, which works like a walkie-talkie, to communicate and plan the attack.
Watkins has not yet assigned a lawyer to her. But her boyfriend spoke on her behalf. The two own the Jolly Roger bar together. They are both members of the group that “waged” them, the Ohio State Regular Militia. “She’s not a violent person,” Siniff told CNN. “She can be very tough, but she’s a very good person through and through and she just really wants to try to help people.”
But law enforcement and many of the lawmakers inside say the rioters who breached the Capitol were putting lives in danger.
Links to far-right Oath Keepers
Siniff said Watkins formed the militia to help tornado victims when local authorities were absent or overwhelmed.
There is a long history of paramilitary groups settling in rural areas of Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere, and the FBI says there is sometimes a dark side.
Watkins is a member of the Oath Keepers, a pro-Trump, far-right, anti-government group that considers itself part of the militia movement accused of protecting the country.
There is no private citizen militia in the US. A militia must be punished by the state.
The oath keepers are clear that they are trying to recruit members from active or retired military personnel, first responders and police, and the name refers to the oath taken to “defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
In court documents, the FBI says, “Oath Keepers will violate federal law if they believe their cause is fair.”
Recruit veterans
Watkins’ alleged co-conspirators are listed by the FBI as Donovan Crowl, a former Marine, and Thomas Caldwell, who served in the Navy.
Crowl lives just down the street from Watkins’ Jolly Roger bar and was a regular there.
Neighbors told CNN that Watkins would try to recruit people if they entered the bar. Most did not accept her. But Crowl did join Watkins and Siniff in their armed group.
“When he’s drunk, he’s the man you want to shut up. When you’re sober, the best man you could have,” Siniff said of the former Marine. “The militia was a good thing to help him … as if it were a reason to be sober.”
CNN has contacted Crowl’s attorney but has received no response.
Crowl’s criminal record shows charges of domestic violence and drunk driving, some of which have led to conviction. This was noted by the federal judge when his attorney tried to release him from his trial. His lawyer said he deserved release because he posed no danger to society.
He has seen on video saying, ‘we have overrun the Capitol’, his criminal history includes violence and alcohol crimes, he also demonstrated previous non-compliance. Sharon Ovington said. Crowl was remanded into custody pending a preliminary hearing in Ohio.
“It felt like he was turning 180 degrees, felt like the world owed him a living and had a big chip on his shoulder,” said Rowe. “I don’t know if it’s because life didn’t turn out as he planned.”
Asked why she thinks Crowl was attracted to this extremist group, she said, “I’d like to understand myself. I don’t get it.”
Caldwell, the third veteran named as a co-conspirator, lives in a secluded property along a country road in Berryville, Virginia, 400 miles from the Woodstock homes of Watkins and Crowl.
It is unclear how long Caldwell knew Crowl and Watkins. But the FBI says they met in Washington, DC. Crowl took video of himself and Watkins in the Capitol and posted it to social media.
Outside the Capitol, Caldwell made his feelings clear on January 6.
“Everyone in there is a traitor, everyone,” he shouted in a video that seemed to refer to the lawmakers inside.
Caldwell was a name in his local Virginia political circles. He was a delegate to the Republican convention in Clarke County, Virginia last year.
A lawyer temporarily assigned to Caldwell said during a detention hearing that his opposition to Biden’s election win was not uncommon and that he was not charged with a violent crime.
But the judge disagreed: “The conduct and statements of Mr. Caldwell and the others, it really is pure lawlessness,” said Commissioner Joel Hoppe of federal court in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Tuesday.
Strong support for Watkins
About 300 people live in the village of Woodstock. Many of the houses are clustered around the intersection and the only traffic light still flies “Trump 2020” flags.
There is also the “Don’t Tread on Me” or Gadsden flag of the American Revolution and a Stars and Stripes that is flown upside down – a signal of “terrible distress,” according to the US code.
Some villagers were hostile to our CNN crew and called the local sheriff twice to complain. Others were happier to talk and argued with their neighbors to withdraw.
And even after all the video and social media posts of Watkins ranting about storming the Capitol, Watkins’ boyfriend is defending her.
“I don’t believe the conspiracy charges are entirely fair,” Siniff said.
CNN’s Curt Devine contributed to this story.