‘We Don’t Tolerate This:’ Judge Tells Bucks County Woman Who Entered Capitol During January 6 Attack

A Bucks County woman who was recorded on video talking about shooting Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi during the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is headed to federal prison.

Dawn Bancroft, 59, a Doylestown-area gym operator who previously owned a home in Middletown Township’s Levittown section, was sentenced to 60 days in federal prison and three years of probation by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington D.C. Thursday afternoon.

Last September, Bancroft pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building. She avoided a more serious threats charge.

Bancroft and Diana Santos-Smith, who had resided in Bucks County, made their way into the Capitol during the insurrection after attending then-President Donald Trump’s rally that was not far away.

“We broke into the Capitol … we got inside, we did our part,” Bancroft said in a recorded video.

“We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain but we didn’t find her,” she added.

In her statement, Bancroft was referring to Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and the third in the presidential line of succession.

Bancroft told FBI special agents that she recorded video and it was sent to her children, but she later instructed them to delete it.

Bancroft has not been accused of being armed, but numerous attackers were armed with numerous types of weapons and guns were found in and around the Capitol complex during the violent assault that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

During Thursday’s sentencing, the judge called the “shoot her in the frickin’ brain” comment by Bancroft “very troubling” and stated “people are responsible for what they say.”

Bancroft’s defense attorney, Carina Laguzzi, told the judge Bancroft’s video featuring the comment was “private” and only shared with one person before federal investigators obtained it.

The judge questioned the attorney if they were blaming the government for Bancroft’s statement.

“These comments are so troubling … They didn’t happen in the privacy of your home. They happened on the steps of the Capitol,” the judge told Bancroft.

The judge stated: “We don’t tolerate this.”

Prior to sentencing, Laguzzi had asked for leniency in the sentencing memo, noting Bancroft gets nasty messages due to her actions during the attack, is tied to the insurrection when people search her name online, and her gym lost its CrossFit affiliation because of the charges.

In court, Assistant United States Attorney Sean Murphy said Bancroft was a victim of her own bad decisions on January 6, 2021.

Laguzzi told the judge Bancroft was caught up in the moment and made a “stupid” statement.

Bancroft told the court she made a “bad decision” that she regrets.

Murphy said the government’s request of a 60 day sentence was fair, in his opinion.

When settling on a sentence, the judge said he considered her statement about Pelosi and the fact she twice entered the Capitol during the attack. He noted he was considering a longer sentence, but decided on the 60 days recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice was best.

Bancroft will have to report to federal prison later this summer.

In the May primary election, Bancroft won a Republican committeewoman seat in Doylestown Borough.

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