A Houston FBI agent, assigned to the criminal and counterterrorism units, pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $10,000 and several silver bars from Houston-area homes he searched over a 16-month period, including the residence of a local student prosecuted over the Jan. 6 assault on the United States Capitol.

Nicholas Anthony Williams, 37, also pleaded guilty to providing false statements to conceal fraudulent charges he made on a government-issued credit card, according to a plea agreement filed Monday in federal court.

Williams used the money he pocketed to purchase at least five firearms, including a Ruger Precision Rifle 6.5 Creedmoor, a long-range rifle, according to the plea agreement.

Before his arrest in January, Williams had been with the bureau’s Houston field office for five years. Williams was a member of the office’s criminal and counterterrorism squads and participated in the raids of four Houston-area homes between March 2022 and July 2023, taking thousands of dollars from each, prosecutors said.

One of the people Williams stole from was a local college student who, earlier this year, received 12 months of probation for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. At the time of his arrest and subsequent search of his Richmond home, Alexander Fan told law enforcement that some items, including $2,500 in cash and silver bars, had gone missing from his bedroom, according to court records. 

Federal officials’ cross-reference revealed that the items were not seized as part of the search. One of three embezzlement charges Williams pleaded guilty to specifically mentions silver bars being taken from a home.

Mark Thering, Fan’s attorney, said he looks forward to the day when his client’s property is returned. “We’re hoping to get something done in the next few weeks and I’m glad to hear that something did get done,” Thering said.

Williams also pawned three cell phones he purchased using a government-issued credit card, falsifying a report to conceal the charges, according to the plea agreement.

In exchange for pleading guilty to three felony counts of embezzlement and conversion of property of another by an officer or employee of the United States, and one felony count of making false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representation, prosecutors agreed to drop one felony count of theft of government money, property or records.

U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen on Monday accepted Williams’ guilty plea and will sentence the former federal law enforcement officer on Jan. 13. He faces up to 10 years in prison and could be fined up to $250,000.

Williams attorney, Chip Lewis, said his client “deeply regrets his actions and the fallout his actions had upon federal law enforcement.”

In a statement, the FBI Houston field office called Williams’ actions “disappointing, disheartening, and infuriating.”

“Over 38,000 FBI employees perform their jobs rigorously and by the book every day. It is imperative to be held accountable when the trust of the American people is betrayed, and we thank the Inspector General’s Office for its thorough investigation,” the statement said.

Alamdar Hamdani, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said in a statement that Williams had betrayed the FBI’s legacy and the community’s trust “when he decided to pad his own pockets at the expense of a citizen’s rights.”

“Because no one is above the law, the system of justice that he once swore to protect will now seek to hold him to account for breaking that oath,” he added.

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