Karen Jones, Santa Ynez Public Official and January 6 Rioter, Is Arrested

Three years after she helped lead the first wave of January 6 rioters up the steps of the U.S. Capitol, pushing through a line of police and receiving a volley of pepper spray in the process, Santa Ynez resident Karen Jones was arrested and charged with four federal counts of trespassing and disorderly conduct.

Jones ― an elected director of the Santa Ynez Valley Community Services District, a local tax-collecting agency that provides sewer and streetlight services to residents ― was taken into custody on December 14 in Austin, Texas. 

Jones’s husband, Robert, who accompanied her during the riot, was arrested the same day in Los Angeles and faces the same set of charges. Each count carries a maximum potential sentence of 12 months in prison. The couple are the first Santa Barbara County residents to be arrested and charged in connection with the events of January 6.

At a recent amateur comedy show in Austin, Jones boasted about her participation in the attempted takeover of the Capitol, telling the crowd: “I have been to the Capitol multiple times, and there has never been any reason not to go in. … I didn’t do anything that I thought was illegal.” Jones claimed she only entered a “public” section of the building and never a “private office” or other “restricted area.”

Cell phone video from that day shows Jones in a hooded sweatshirt and dark-colored “TRUMP” cap leading a group protesters in the Pledge of Allegiance shortly before it breached the eastern doors. “I was in the first wave up the stairs,” Jones shouts into a microphone. “Took a little pepper spray. Didn’t think I’d ever be sprayed by cops in my own country. I support the police.”

Security camera footage then places Jones and Robert in the building’s Rotunda as officers are grabbed and beaten nearby. During one confrontation, the couple is jostled as members of the mob wrestle with police and shout “U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”

In its arrest warrant, the FBI said it confirmed the couple’s identity through cell phone and credit card records, flight and hotel bookings, and physical surveillance of their home in Santa Ynez. They were among “scores of individuals inside the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, without authority to be there,” the warrant states.

Jones has not responded to multiple requests for comment. The Santa Ynez Community Services District has also declined to comment. 

A political firebrand and outspoken Trump supporter, Jones, who goes by the nickname “Snakebite,” mounted two unsuccessful bids for Santa Barbara County supervisor in 2016 and 2020. 

[Click to enlarge] Karen Jones approaching a line of police officers on the East Steps (left) and Karen and Robert Jones walking through the Rotunda | Credit: Courtesy

During her campaigns, she opposed plans by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians to build a tribal community center and housing for its members, calling their casino operations a “racket” and arguing Native American land should not be designated as sovereign nations. She supported increasing oil and gas production in Santa Maria’s Cat Canyon, legalizing cannabis, and preserving agriculture. 

Jones didn’t accept any donations from corporations or special interest groups, touting a platform of “individual liberty” and “personal responsibility.” 

Jones previously served on the Santa Ynez Valley Airport Authority’s board of directors. A close friend of country music star Kinky Friedman, she hosts an annual music festival at her home called JonesFest.