FORMER ASS. D.A. SORRELLE CHARGED WITH JAN 6 CRIMES

By Jolie McCullough
Texas Tribune

CNN

Washington Post

When Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz was sworn in in 2013, he inherited a holdover staff which included the section dealing with the State of Texas Children Protective Services under the Department of Family and Protective Services.

At the head of the county's DA staff who worked hand in hand with the state was Kelley SorRelle, who had joined the DA's Office two years earlier in 2011. She left the county in 2017, having worked under Saenz for four years. Over that time, Saenz came to depend on SorRelle and the CPS section to protect children and families and remove them from abusive situation.

"Whenever we had a CPS issue, we knew we could count of Kelley to protect kids and take care of the kids," Saenz said yesterday. "That's why it threw us for a loop to hear she had been arrested for her participation in the January 6 insurrection. All of us are stunned to hear that. Sometime after she left us in 2017, something went wrong."

After her husband Jeremy left the DA's staff, SorRelle followed. Saenz said the couple had later split after they moved to Granbury, about 20 miles southwest of Fort Worth in North Texas. 

CNN reported that SorRell, 43, was arrested last Thursday in Junction, Texas, following an indictment in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, according to Bill Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in DC. Miller added that the Justice Department currently has no additional comments on the case. SoRelle made her initial appearance in a federal courtroom in Austin, Texas, Thursday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Dustin Howell of the Western District of Texas.

SoRelle, now an attorney for the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers, was been indicted on four counts related to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to federal prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in part alleges SoRelle destroyed and hid potential evidence to obstruct the criminal investigation into the Capitol attack, indicting her on a charge of tampering with documents. She is also charged with conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s win during the 2020 elections, as well as being inside the Capitol during the insurrection.

In her website, she states that she is a "licensed Texas Attorney who believes in fighting for the rights of all Americans. In November of 2020, Kellye volunteered for Lawyers for Trump and was assigned to assist in Michigan.

"After the votes were counted, Kellye SoRelle jumped into action to assist the legal teams challenging the election results. Kellye SoRelle is still fighting that battle today and has teamed up with numerous former government employees and political activists to preserve the Republic. The fight is ongoing."

"Kellye SoRelle is also the general counsel for the Oath Keepers.
If the People will Lead, the leaders will follow." 

SoRelle, who unsuccessfully ran to represent Texas House District 60 in the 2020 Republican primary, was with the Oath Keepers’ founder, Stewart Rhodes, outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the Washington Post."

In May, SoRelle told CNN she was cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice in the investigation, including handing over her cellphone to investigators. SoRelle does not represent any Oath Keepers in their criminal proceedings, CNN reported. She remained defiant and posted in September, 2021, that she was only "seeking the truth."

She is one of more than 70 Texans who have been charged for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to a USA Today database. One Texan, who prosecutors said “lit the match” of the Jan. 6 insurrection, was sentenced to 7 1/4 years in prison last month, tied for the longest sentence of any rioter to date.

North Texas has been a focal area for the investigation into the riot, with more than a dozen area residents having been charged in the federal investigation.

"You just don't expect this from someone like Kellye who was dedicated to protect children and remove them from abusive situations," Saenz said. "This is a shocker."