A leader of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was arrested Tuesday on a conspiracy charge for his suspected role in the co-ordinated attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
Henry "Enrique" Tarrio wasn't there when the riot erupted on Jan. 6, 2021. Police had arrested Tarrio in Washington two days before the riot and charged him with vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during a protest in December 2020xjmtzyw. The day before the Capitol was attacked, a judge ordered Tarrio to stay out of Washington.
But Tarrio didn't leave town as he should have, the indictment said. Instead, he met with Oath Keepers founder and leader Elmer "Stewart" Rhodes and others in an underground parking garage for approximately 30 minutes.
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"During this encounter, a participant referenced the Capitol," the indictment said.
Tarrio made his initial court appearance via video link to a Miami courtroom Tuesday. His detention hearing was scheduled for Friday.
The arrest came as federal prosecutors won a conviction on all counts in the first trial for a rioter since the attack.
Plan to occupy 'crucial buildings' in Washington
The indictment is a further proof of how far the U.S. Justice Department is going to prosecute the leaders of extremist groups whose members are suspected of planning the attack on the Capitol, even if they weren't in attendance themselves.
The latest conspiracy charge zeroes in on organized groups that plotted in advance — as federal prosecutors distinguish them from hundreds of other supporters of then president Donald Trump who were at the scene that day and were charged.
The new riot-related charges are among the most serious filed so far, but they aren't the first of their kind. Eleven members or associates of the antigovernment Oath Keepers militia group, including Rhodes, have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the Capitol attack.
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Tarrio, who has since stepped down from his post as Proud Boys chairman, didn't immediately respond to a text message seeking comment on his arrest and indictment. He served five months for the unrelated case.
On Dec. 30, 2020, an unnamed person sent Tarrio a document that laid out plans for occupying a few "crucial buildings" in Washington on Jan. 6, including House and Senate office buildings around the Capitol, the indictment says. The nine-page document was entitled "1776 Returns" and called for having as "many people as possible" to "show our politicians We the People are in charge," according to the indictment.
"The revolution is important than anything," the person said.
"That's what every waking moment consists of … I'm not playing games," Tarrio responded, according to the indictment.
Significant Proud Boys presence on Jan. 6
Proud Boys members describe the group as a politically incorrect men's club for "Western chauvinists." Its members frequently have brawled with antifascist activists at rallies and protests. Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, who founded the Proud Boys in 2016, sued the Southern Poverty Law Center for labelling it as a hate group.
On the morning of Jan. 6, group members met at the Washington Monument and marched to the Capitol before then president Donald Trump finished speaking to thousands of supporters near the White House.
Just before Congress convened a joint session to certify the presidential election results, a group of Proud Boys followed a crowd of people who breached barriers at a pedestrian entrance to the Capitol grounds, an indictment says. Several Proud Boys also entered the Capitol building itself after the mob smashed windows and forced open doors.
Prosecutors have said the Proud Boys arranged for members to communicate using specific frequencies on Baofeng radios, Chinese-made devices that can be programmed for use on hundreds of frequencies, making it difficult for outsiders to eavesdrop.
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Over three dozen of the more than 750 people charged in the Capitol siege have been identified by federal authorities as Proud Boys leaders, members or associates.
Conviction in 1st Capitol riot trial
Meanwhile, on Tuesday a Texas man was convicted of storming the U.S. Capitol with a holstered handgun, a milestone victory for federal prosecutors in the first trial among hundreds of cases arising from last year's riot.
A jury also convicted Guy Wesley Reffitt of obstructing Congress' joint session to certify the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021, of interfering with police officers who were guarding the Capitol and of threatening his two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement after the attack.
Jurors deliberated about three hours and convicted him on all counts.
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The verdict could be a bellwether for many other Capitol riot cases. It could give Justice Department prosecutors more leverage in plea negotiations and discourage other defendants from gambling on trials of their own.
Reffitt faced a total of five counts: obstruction of an official proceeding, being unlawfully present on Capitol grounds while armed with a firearm, transporting firearms during a civil disorder, interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, and obstruction of justice.
During the trial's closing arguments on Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Risa Berkower told jurors that Reffitt drove to Washington, D.C., intending to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's electoral victory. Reffitt proudly "lit the fire" that allowed others in a mob to overwhelm Capitol police officers near the Senate doors, the prosecutor said.
Reffitt was not accused of entering the Capitol building. Defence attorney William Welch said there is no evidence that his client damaged property, used force or physically harmed anybody.
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Jurors saw videos that captured the confrontation between a few Capitol police officers and a mob of people, including Reffitt, who approached them on the west side of the Capitol.
Reffitt was armed with a Smith & Wesson pistol in a holster on his waist, carrying zip-tie handcuffs and wearing body armour and a helmet equipped with a video camera when he advanced on police, according to prosecutors. He retreated after an officer pepper sprayed him in the face, but he waved on other rioters who ultimately breached the building, prosecutors said.
Before the crowd advanced, Reffitt used a megaphone to shout at police to step aside and to urge the mob to push forward and overtake officers. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler said Reffitt played a leadership role that day.
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He will be sentenced June 8. He could receive 20 years in prison on the top charge alone, but he's likely to face far less time behind bars. Other rioters have pleaded guilty, and the longest sentence so far was the five years and three months handed to Robert Palmer, a Florida man who pleaded guilty to attacking police officers at the Capitol.
The riot resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer. More than 100 officers were injured. Rioters caused over $1 million in damage to the Capitol.
More than 750 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot. Over 220 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors, and more than 110 of them have been sentenced. Approximately 90 others have trial dates.
