Generally speaking, if you’re married to an FBI agent, it’s probably best not to participate in an insurgency on the Capitol.
But apparently Jennifer Heinl, 55, did not receive this note because she was one of several members of the MAGA militia filmed during the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill.
Jennifer is soon to be the ex-wife of Detective Michael Heinl, a Shaler Township police officer who also works with the FBI’s Pittsburgh Area Violent Crime Task Force.
In addition to being charged with disorderly and disruptive conduct and violent entry into the Capitol grounds, Jennifer has just received divorce papers from Michael after seeing her during the deadly riots with another man.
The man was Kenneth Grayson, whom Jennifer allegedly met on Facebook and met in the insurgency, according to the FBI.
Jennifer was identified by a photo on Grayson’s iPad as well as a video taken inside the Rotunda. Grayson told detectives he stormed the US Capitol hoping to satisfy his need to kill people, which “included current President Joe Biden.”
The FBI also uncovered Facebook Messenger discussions between the two, discussing their travel plans, including hotel and car rental arrangements. The talks lasted from November 12, 2020 until January 11, 2021, when they fell out of touch.
Michael was reportedly aware of his wife’s plans to attend Trump’s pre-insurgency rally and discouraged her from going. However, he was completely unaware of his relationship with Grayson.
“His wife was part of this situation,” Michael’s boss Sean Frank, chief of the Shaler Township Police Department, told reporters. “He didn’t tolerate it. He didn’t ask her to go. He was’nt here. He worked here.
Jennifer’s attorney, Marty Dietz, released a statement saying she was “not a criminal” and felt “deeply embarrassed” by the whole ordeal.
Graham Gremore is editor and editor at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
