HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- A Henrico firefighter pleaded not guilty to rioting in Washington D.C. on Inauguration Day. Rosa Roncales was arraigned Thursday, and a status hearing was scheduled for April.
Roncales was charged with felony rioting in connection to the incidents that caused in excess of $100,000, according to court documents.
The documents said officers with the Metropolitan Police Department were monitoring a planned assembly of individuals that were known to be associated with an anarchist group, in part because of social media postings that they would disrupt Inauguration-related activities.
Many members of the group, estimated to be in excess of 300 people, were carrying anarchist flags, wearing black clothing, and black bandanas and masks, police said.
Many also carried weapons, like a hammer and a baseball bat, according to court documents.
The incident in question happened around 10 a.m. Inauguration morning near the intersection of 13th and O Streets.
Officers observed members of the group rip up trash cans and newspaper boxes off of the street, drag them onto the road, and set them on fire, according to court documents.
Those documents stated the group then proceeded to smash out the windows of a DC Fire and EMS vehicle outside of a fire house.
Then, after following the group for approximately 28 minutes, officers said members of the group smashed out large plate glass windows from Starbucks Coffee, Sun-Trust Bank and Wells Fargo Bank and lit a limousine on fire.
After her arrest, a human resource officer said that Roncales was still employed by the department, but had been reassigned to an administrative position and would remain in that role until a decision was made in the case.
