2021 Trump-Incited Insurrection at Capitol Building

[TopHatter]

FBI arrests man who first entered U.S. Capitol during Jan. 6 riot


The FBI has arrested Brett Alan Rotella, the man believed to have been one of the first two people to enter the tunnel into the U.S. Capitol during the violent attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021.

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The FBI has arrested the man believed to have first entered the tunnel into the U.S. Capitol during the violent attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021.

Brett Alan Rotella, a 34-year-old from North Carolina who goes by the name Brett Ostrander, was arrested Tuesday and charged with felony offenses including obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Rotella was expected to make his initial appearance in a Western District of North Carolina courthouse on Wednesday, prosecutors said.

In the criminal complaint against him, a special agent with the FBI wrote that Rotella was caught on surveillance camera footage and police body-worn camera footage at the Capitol.

"Law enforcement identified an individual who confronted police officers, led other rioters in advancing toward retreating police, grabbed police riot shields and repeatedly pushed against police in an effort to gain entrance to the U.S. Capitol," the special agent wrote in the criminal complaint.

The FBI subsequently shared with the public a photo of the suspect, who was later identified as Rotella. The video footage shows Rotella wearing a red skull cap, a black sleeveless puffy vest over a red sleeveless shirt, white or gray long shorts with a black stripe and black tennis shoes. He also was pictured with a long flagpole throughout the day.

Around 2:26 p.m. on the day of the riot, Rotella allegedly approached a metal police barricade and pushed it toward officers and begged law enforcement to tear gas him.

"We just want things to be right," Rotella allegedly said. "Something has to happen or we're all [expletive]."

When police retreated from the escalating violence, Rotella allegedly led "numerous other rioters" to follow the police up the southwest stairs from the West Plaza of the Capitol, according to the complaint.

"Hold!" he called out to his fellow rioters when they reached the top of the stairs.

When police left the area, Rotella led the rioters toward the U.S. Capitol building and followed police into the building around 2:40 p.m. that day, the FBI alleged in the 22-page court documents.

Police fired rubber bullets at his feet in an attempt to stop Rotella from advancing, according to the complaint. Rotella continued to advance, walking backward into the tunnel.

Law enforcement retreated farther into the tunnel and locked the first of two sets of double doors into the building.

Rotella is seen in body-worn camera footage holding the flagpole as he stares down the officers inside the building.

Eventually, rioters smashed the glass in the doors, and Rotella allegedly reached in and opened the door handle. Another rioter entered first and began to physically fight the police with Rotella following them in.

During the ensuing scuffle, Rotella allegedly grabbed a police riot shield and left the tunnel around 2:55 p.m. when he was pepper sprayed.

About an hour later, Rotella was still in the area and led other rioters in pushing against a police line outside the Capitol.

The FBI has arrested about 1,100 people in connection with the Capitol attack and efforts to track down participants in the violence continue, though the statute of limitations on most crimes related to the riot expire in 2026.
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Still wondering when they're going to start arresting "antifa" for January 6th....

[TopHatter]

Capitol rioter who bragged he 'took the White House' charged with lying to the FBI

WASHINGTON — The FBI arrested a Georgia man who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and then posted a video on social media bragging that rioters "took the White House," the Justice Department said Wednesday.

William Frederick Beals II, 52, of Ringgold, Georgia, is charged with a felony count of knowingly making false statements, along with several misdemeanor offenses. Beals, photos show, wore a black helmet with a "F--- ANTIFA" sticker on it when he stormed the Capitol. Photos show that Beals was at the front of the mob, climbing scaffolding to get toward the building, and the FBI said he shouted expletives at police. Beals was arrested in Georgia last week, and he made his initial appearance in Tennessee, according to the Justice Department.



“So we officially took the White House," Beals said in a TikTok video after he left the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, the FBI affidavit said.

Numerous other Jan. 6 rioters who stormed the Capitol, home to the legislative branch, also believed they had stormed the White House, the seat of the executive branch. “Storm the White House!” said Doug Jensen, a QAnon believer sentenced to five years in prison. “That’s what we do!” Another man, a Florida doctor named Kenneth Kelly, said as he pleaded guilty that it was “embarrassing” that he confused the Capitol for the White House. Far-right extremist Riley Williams also stated, falsely, that she was “STORMING THE WHITE HOUSE.”

The FBI said Beals also bragged in a text message after the Capitol breach that he knew it would be “easy to get in.”

Beals entered the Capitol at least twice and donned a gas mask the second time, joining a group that "physically overpowered" officers at the Senate wing door, the FBI said.

Beals spoke with the FBI in July 2021 and October 2021, according to the affidavit, and denied entering the Capitol. At the second meeting, Beals said his "security clearance had been revoked," according to an affidavit. (In June, citing documents obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request, a journalist for Raw Story reported that the Tennessee Valley Authority had banned Beals from the nuclear power facilities where he worked.)

Later, after having moved to Georgia, he reportedly complained about having lost his career as a union carpenter because of the Jan. 6 investigation.

While countless Jan. 6 participants have been accused in court documents of lying to the FBI about their actions, few have formally been charged with felonies for such conduct. The so-called 1001 charge, as it's known in law enforcement circles, makes it a crime to knowingly and willfully lie to federal agents. A Justice Department database of Jan. 6 defendants indicates that the charge has been brought against only two other Capitol attack defendants.

About 1,100 people have been charged in connection with the attack. The total scope of people who could face charges tops 3,000, and online "Sedition Hunters" have identified hundreds more Jan. 6 participants who have not been arrested. The statute of limitations for most of the crimes committed in the Capitol attack expires in January 2026.
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One January 6th defendant said,in court,that he thought the Electoral College was where politicians went to learned how to be politicians.

These are the same rocket scientists that are promising "Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo"

[TopHatter]

Joe Biggs, Proud Boys leader, gets 17-year prison sentence for role in Jan. 6 attack
Biggs is the first of four Proud Boys leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy to face sentencing.



Joseph Biggs, a Florida leader of the Proud Boys on Jan. 6, 2021, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for conspiring to derail the peaceful transfer of power, the second-longest sentence of the hundreds handed down since the violent assault on the Capitol.

“That day broke our tradition of peacefully transferring power,” said U.S. District Court Timothy Kelly, as he delivered his sentence.

Biggs is the first of four Proud Boys leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy to face sentencing. Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio is slated for sentencing Tuesday.

Prosecutors, who had asked for a 33-year sentence, say Biggs and his co-conspirators were the driving force behind the violence that unfolded that day, facilitating breaches at multiple police lines and helping the crowd advance into the building itself.
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Prosecutors wanted 33 years....and this shit stain gets off with 17. What the fuck....

[TopHatter]

Proud Boy Zachary Rehl receives 15 years in prison, half of government request



Proud Boy Zachary Rehl was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison after being convicted of leading an inflamed mob toward the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results.

Addressing the court Thursday, the former Philadelphia Proud Boys chapter president said he let politics consume his life, causing him to “lose track of who and what mattered most.”

Jan 6., he said, was a “despicable day.”

“I’m done with politics, done with peddling lies for other people who don’t care about me,” Rehl said, taking breaks from speaking to wipe his tears and catch his breath.

Rehl’s sentence is just half of the 33-year sentence prosecutors requested, a decision U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly attributed to ensuring Jan. 6 sentences do not have too great a disparity between them.

“This was 15 years below guidelines and 15 years below what the government requested,” Kelly said, expressing disbelief. “I wonder if I will ever sentence someone to 15 years below the guidelines [again] in my career.”

A former U.S. Marine, Rehl testified at trial that no one told him to attack the Capitol or hurt anyone, and he did not do those things, according to The Associated Press. But on cross-examination, prosecutors presented evidence that showed him spattering law enforcement with a chemical spray — after he said he could not recall doing so.

Kelly said he would consider that fact in deciding Rehl’s sentence after determining via a preponderance of evidence that Rehl did spray an officer, despite not being charged for that action. He determined Rehl perjured himself during his testimony by the same standard.

The judge also applied a terrorism enhancement to Rehl’s sentencing guidelines, wherein a defendant must have committed an offense that “was calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct.” The enhancement’s weight was weakened because significant loss of life was not incurred, Kelly said.

Rehl’s is the third-longest sentence handed out over the Capitol attack.

Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes was given 18 years in prison for his role in the Capitol attack — the highest sentence handed down in a Jan. 6 case. Proud Boy Joe Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in prison earlier Thursday, the second-highest sentence.

Ahead of the Capitol attack, Rehl advocated for “firing squads” to be used against “the traitors that are trying to steal the election,” according to trial evidence. After it, he said the attack was a “good start” but that the rioters should have shown up armed and “[taken] the country back the right way.” On Thursday, Kelly called those statements “chilling.”

“Every time someone dreads what might transpire on Jan. 6, 2025 … does so in no small part because of what Zachary Rehl and his co-conspirators strove for and did accomplish,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson said Thursday, advocating for a lengthy sentence.

The Pennsylvania Proud Boy in turn asked for a sentence of three years or less. Norman Pattis, Rehl’s attorney, said the government’s proposed sentence was “disproportionate, uncalled for and will not create a respect for the law.” He called it an equivalent to “burning Waco down,” referencing a deadly FBI siege in Waco, Texas, after a 1993 standoff between a religious group and federal agents.

Pattis also claimed that Rehl and other rioters were acting on former President Trump’s false claims of election fraud and questioned why the former president does not face charges of seditious conspiracy, as well.

“What they’re guilty of is believing a president who said the election had been stolen from them,” Pattis said of Rehl and other rioters.

In the months since the Proud Boys’ sedition convictions, Trump has been charged in two criminal cases tied to his actions after losing the 2020 election. A federal case in Washington, D.C., charges the former president with conspiring to overturn the election, culminating in the Capitol attack. It’s set to begin on March 4.

Trump urged the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during his first debate against President Biden after being asked to denounce the right-wing extremists — a comment that galvanized members of the group, according to evidence shown at trial.

Three other Proud Boys tried for their roles in the Capitol attack — Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola and leader Enrique Tarrio — will be sentenced in coming days.
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Such unbelievable bullshit...

[TopHatter]

Proud Boy Who Smashed Window at Capitol Sentenced to 10 Years
Dominic Pezzola was the third member of the far-right group to be sentenced this week. Among the first of the rioters to enter the Capitol, he was convicted of six felonies but acquitted of sedition.


Dominic Pezzola, center right, confronting Capitol Police officers after breaking into the building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Dominic Pezzola, the rank-and-file member of the Proud Boys who led the charge into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by shattering a window with a stolen police riot shield, was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison.

The sentence imposed on Mr. Pezzola was the third to have been handed down this week to five members of the far-right group who were tried in May for seditious conspiracy and other crimes in one of the most significant prosecutions to have emerged from the Capitol attack. It was only half of the 20 years that the government had requested and less than the punishment meted out to several rioters found guilty of assaulting the police.

Mr. Pezzola, a flooring contractor from Rochester, N.Y., was the only one of the five men charged in the case who was found not guilty of sedition at the trial in Federal District Court in Washington. But the jury convicted him of six other felonies, including assaulting a police officer, a conspiracy to keep members of Congress from certifying the election and the destruction of one of the Capitol building’s windows.

Despite telling Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who has overseen the Proud Boys sedition case, that he was remorseful and had given up on politics, Mr. Pezzola raised his fist before he was removed from the courtroom and shouted, “Trump won!”

Video clips of the Jan. 6 attack showing Mr. Pezzola, with his scraggly beard and wild mane of hair, hammering at the glass with a plastic riot shield, were some of the most enduring images to have emerged from the Justice Department’s sprawling investigation of the riot. The videos were prominently featured not only at the trial, but also at public hearings by the House select committee that investigated Jan. 6.

Mr. Pezzola’s sentencing in the federal courthouse — which sits within sight of the Capitol building — came one day after Judge Kelly, a Trump appointee, imposed a 17-year term on Joseph Biggs, a former top lieutenant in the far-right group, and handed Zachary Rehl, who once ran the Proud Boys Philadelphia chapter, 15 years in prison.

Judge Kelly is scheduled to sentence Ethan Nordean, a fourth defendant in the case, on Friday afternoon. On Tuesday, at a fifth and final hearing, the judge is expected to decide on the punishment for Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the Proud Boys.

The government has long maintained that Mr. Pezzola was the most aggressive of the five men who went to trial in the conspiracy case, a point that prosecutors drove home on Friday.

“He was an enthusiastic foot soldier in that conspiracy,” Erik Kenerson, one of the prosecutors, told Judge Kelly. “And what transpired on Jan. 6 was the type of political violence that Mr. Pezzola signed up for the Proud Boys to partake in.”

After marching with about 200 other members of the group from the Washington Monument to the Capitol, Mr. Pezzola scuffled with a police officer in the crowd outside and made off with his plastic riot shield. He ultimately used that shield to smash a window at the building and rush inside with the first wave of rioters, taking a video of himself smoking what he described as a victory cigar.

The image of Mr. Pezzola breaking the window crystallized the entire attack on the Capitol, Mr. Kenerson went on.

“He was the literal poster boy of this conspiracy,” he said.

Steven Metcalf, Mr. Pezzola’s lawyer, agreed in part, admitting that his client became notorious weeks before Jan. 6 when The Washington Post placed a photograph of him on its front page after an earlier pro-Trump rally in Washington.

But Mr. Pezzola was not like the other Proud Boys with whom he had been charged, having joined the group weeks before the Capitol attack.

“This is a Proud Boys leadership trial,” Mr. Metcalf said, adding that to the high-ranking members of the group, Mr. Pezzola was “a nobody.”

Addressing the court, Mr. Pezzola apologized to his two daughters and to his longtime partner, Lisa Magee, saying, “I have broken this family and crushed your heart.”

He told Judge Kelly that he was “a changed and humbled man” who had taken responsibility for his actions on Jan. 6.

“At times, it feels like I live in an emotional black hole,” he said.

Then Ms. Magee spoke, detailing all the ways in which Mr. Pezzola’s case had harmed her and her family. Their daughters had lost friends, she said, and have suffered from harassment and depression. She had been unable to find work and became financially “destroyed.”

Judge Kelly responded by acknowledging that Mr. Pezzola was a relative newcomer to the Proud Boys and had been acquitted of seditious conspiracy — the most serious charge in the case.

But he also noted that Mr. Pezzola had smashed the window that let other rioters stream into the Capitol to threaten lawmakers as they were certifying the election.

“You really were in some ways the tip of the spear that allowed people to get into the Capitol,” he said.

While Mr. Tarrio and some of the other Proud Boys in the case were well-known figures — even celebrities — in right-wing circles long before Jan. 6, Mr. Pezzola was virtually unknown before he took part in the Capitol attack.

A former Marine and amateur boxer, he joined the Proud Boys in November 2020, after President Donald J. Trump lost the election. He wrote in a journal introduced as evidence during the trial that he viewed the political situation then as a “battle between good and evil,” requiring patriots to “stand up and take back our God-given liberties just like our Founders did.”

During the trial, Ms. Magee testified on Mr. Pezzola’s behalf, telling the jury that before the spread of the coronavirus, he was largely uninterested in politics. But during the pandemic, under the influence of Fox News and heavy drinking, he became “consumed” by the country’s deep divisions, she said.

In a bid humanize himself, Mr. Pezzola also testified, telling jurors that he believed that the police had incited the violence at the Capitol and that his military training as an infantryman had simply kicked as he stood in the mob outside. But his time on the witness stand quickly turned disastrous as he lost his temper and lashed out at the prosecutors trying him, attacking them for conducting what he described as a “corrupt trial” marred by “fake charges.”

Like the proceedings on Thursday for Mr. Biggs and Mr. Rehl, Mr. Pezzola’s hearing dwelled on thorny issues surrounding what is known as a terrorism sentencing enhancement. Those provisions can be used to increase a defendant’s sentence if prosecutors can show that their actions were undertaken in an effort to influence “the conduct of government by intimidation and coercion.”

Judge Kelly said the enhancement technically applied to Mr. Pezzola’s case — as it did to those of Mr. Biggs and Mr. Rehl — though he has acknowledged that none of the Proud Boys engaged in typical acts of terrorism like blowing up buildings or attacking military installations.

As a legal matter, the enhancement in Mr. Pezzola’s case emerged from his conviction on charges of breaking the window and from his role in trampling a fence that allowed other rioters to surge forward.

That deeply frustrated his lawyer, Mr. Metcalf, who told Judge Kelly, “It’s just ridiculous that that property damage could bring us to this point.”
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"during the pandemic, under the influence of Fox News and heavy drinking, he became “consumed” by the country’s deep divisions"

Are you sure it was the booze 'n Fox news and not the FBI?

"He told Judge Kelly that he was “a changed and humbled man” who had taken responsibility for his actions on Jan. 6."

"Despite telling Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who has overseen the Proud Boys sedition case, that he was remorseful and had given up on politics, Mr. Pezzola raised his fist before he was removed from the courtroom and shouted, “Trump won!”"

Yeah. Changed and humbled...

[TopHatter]

US Capitol attack: Proud Boys leader gets 18 years in prison, matching longest


Pro-Trump protesters storm into the U.S. Capitol during clashes with police, during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021.

WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A leader of the far-right Proud Boys was sentenced on Friday to 18 years in prison over the U.S. Capitol attack, equaling the longest punishment in the case so far, while another member sentenced to 10 years yelled "Trump won" as he left court.

The pair were the latest members of far-right groups sentenced for taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on Congress, an attempt to overturn Donald Trump's election defeat.

The 18-year sentence for Ethan Nordean, a leader of the Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy, fell short of the 27 years prosecutors had sought and tied the sentence handed down to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes in May.

"If we don't have a peaceful transfer of power in this country, we don't have anything," said U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly.

In a statement to the judge, Nordean called Jan. 6 a "complete and utter tragedy" and said he had gone to the Capitol to be a leader and to keep people out of trouble. His wife and sister pleaded for mercy.

Nordean's attorney, Nick Smith, had argued for a sentence of 15 to 21 months.

Dominic Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys, did not play a leadership role but was convicted of felonies including obstructing an official proceeding and assaulting police. He yelled, "Trump won!" as he left the courtroom after being sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Pezzola's assault on former Capitol Police Officer Mark Ode, in which he stole Ode's riot shield and used it to smash at a window at the Capitol, helped to justify a lengthy prison term.

Pezzola's attorneys had asked for their client to be sentenced to around five years in prison. Steven Metcalf, one of Pezzola's attorneys, told the judge that Pezzola was caught in the "heat of the moment."

"I stand before you with a heart full of regret," Pezzola said in an emotional speech to the court before his outburst. "I never should've crossed the barrier at the Capitol that day."

Prosecutors had sought a 20-year prison term for Pezzola.

Thousands of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol following a speech in which the Republican then-president falsely claimed that his November 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread fraud. Trump has continued to make those false claims even as he leads the Republican race for the 2024 nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden.

Five people including a police officer died during or shortly after the riot and more than 140 police officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested on charges related to the Capitol assault. Of those, more than 630 have pleaded guilty and at least 110 have been convicted at trial.
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[tbm3fan]

I seriously doubt they will come out of prison chastened and changed men but probably more hardened...

[Monash]

I seriously doubt they will come out of prison chastened and changed men but probably more hardened...

Nope! And whats particularly frustrating is the sheer hypocrisy or cowardice (take your pick) of some of them. When he was standing before the Judge for sentencing Nordean was making pious statements about how they had all been 'deceived 'and how sorry he was yarda, yarda, yarda. Yet as soon as he steps out of the court and in front of the cameras? He's all 'tough patriot ' again.

The 'Trump' is strong in this one Obi Wan.

[Albany Rifles]

Nope! And whats particularly frustrating is the sheer hypocrisy or cowardice (take your pick) of some of them. When he was standing before the Judge for sentencing Nordean was making pious statements about how they had all been 'deceived 'and how sorry he was yarda, yarda, yarda. Yet as soon as he steps out of the court and in front of the cameras? He's all 'tough patriot ' again.

The 'Trump' is strong in this one Obi Wan.

To put it succinctly...fuck 'em all!

[TopHatter]

FBI searches for growing number of Jan. 6 fugitives
For one of the biggest moments of his life, Eric Bochene wore a faded white t-shirt and sat in an empty, green-walled conference room, straining to hear the volume from the computer. He grimaced as the virtual conference technology glitched. And he frequently voiced his frustration with his situation.

Bochene pleaded guilty in late August to a federal criminal charge for his role in the U.S. Capitol attack. But he didn't stand in a courtroom. His lawyer wasn't standing next to Bochene. Instead the attorney was on a separate virtual conference connection. And Bochene wasn't permitted to choose his own outfit.

Though he was pleading guilty to only a misdemeanor charge, Bochene was required to appear remotely for his hearing from a holding room in the Broome County jail in Binghamton, NY. He wore his jail outfit, sitting beneath fluorescent lights, because Bochene isn't a typical Jan. 6 defendant.

Bochene is one of a growing number of U.S. Capitol riot defendants who absconded and became fugitives after their arrests or initial court appearances.



The prosecution related to the Jan. 6, 2021 siege is the largest in American history, with approximately 1,100 criminal defendants from nearly every state. Though more than 600 of those defendants have pleaded guilty and dozens more have gone to trial, at least six became – or were — fugitives over the course of this summer. Some are still wanted by the FBI. Eric Bochene was one of them.

Bochene was charged with four federal counts and was accused of throwing a large item at a Capitol window, then moving amid the mob into the Capitol during the siege. After his arrest in May 2021, Bochene chose to represent himself in court.

He was defiant during some hearings, invoking language consistent with the sovereign citizen movement. In one set of court filings, Bochene unsuccessfully asked the court to pay him $75,000 an hour in fees for his legal services in his own case. Bochene signed one court filing with a red fingerprint. At another court hearing, he equivocated when his asked his age by the judge, responding "52 or 53." Bochene, who was born in and lives in New York, also acknowledged he once reviewed the possibility of denouncing his U.S. citizenship.

As his trial date approached this summer, his defiance escalated. Bochene failed to appear for a mandatory pretrial status conference in Washington, D.C. on July 18. A judge issued a warrant for Bochene's arrest, which led to Bochene's capture by U.S. Marshals in the southern tier of New York and a court appearance in Binghamton on Aug. 2.

Bochene, who pleaded guilty to the charge of entering a restricted building, faces up to one year in prison at sentencing in November. But the plea agreement required that Bochene remain in the Broome County jail until the sentencing hearing, due to his failure to appear in court in July.

He told the judge he wasn't happy about being required to remain in jail, but Bochene didn't challenge the decision at his plea hearing.

The Florida fugitives
There are four U.S. Capitol riot fugitives from the Tampa, Florida area — all of whom are being pursued.

One of them, Christopher Worrell, was a member of the far-right Proud Boys organization. Worrell, 52, disappeared days before his sentencing hearing in August. The FBI has issued a wanted poster seeking tips to help locate him.


Christopher Worrell

Worrell was found guilty in May on a series of federal charges, including assaulting or resisting police. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Worrell sprayed pepper gel at a line of police officers trying to defend the Capitol from the mob. Prosecutors said, "Worrell later bragged that he had "deployed a whole can" and was "f****** handing it to them."

Worrell was on house arrest while awaiting his sentencing. Prosecutors had recommended the judge sentence Worrell to 14 years in prison.

Since his disappearance in August, a spokesperson for the FBI Tampa field office told CBS News "We continue to seek the public's help in providing information" on his whereabouts.

The FBI is also searching for three other Tampa-area Jan. 6 defendants, including Jonathan Pollock, who has been on the run for nearly two years. The agency has offered a $30,000 reward for information leading to Pollock's arrest. The reward money and a wanted poster, which features a series of images of Pollock, have yet to help agents track down the Lakeland, Fla., man.




The Justice Department alleges Pollock was part of a violent attack during the Capitol siege. Prosecutors said that Pollock "seized a riot shield from an officer and engaged in a tug-of-war-style conflict before pulling the officer down the steps, breaking the officer's grasp and taking the shield."

They also said that Pollock "then held the riot shield in front of him, charged up the steps and slammed into the police line."

"Mr. Pollock is a fugitive. We are asking the public to provide information on his whereabouts so that we can safely bring him in to answer to the charges against him," said FBI Tampa Special Agent in Charge David Walker.

Pollock's sister, Olivia, is also wanted by the FBI. Olivia Pollock, who is a co-defendant in her brother's case disappeared days before her trial was to begin in March.

A Washington, D.C. federal judge signed an arrest warrant for Olivia Pollock on Feb. 28, one week before her scheduled trial date.




Joseph Hutchinson, who is also a co-defendant of the Pollocks, is also being sought by federal authorities. The court has scheduled — then postponed — a series of hearings for Hutchinson, as federal agents have sought to track him down.

Hutchinson is accused of squaring off with police and throwing punches at officers during the Capitol attack.

Olivia Pollock and Hutchinson pleaded not guilty before absconding.

Two of Pollock's other co-defendants have been found guilty in their cases. Michael Perkins, 39, and Joshua Doolin, 25, were each convicted of civil disorder, a felony, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.

Defendants re-captured
Some of the Jan. 6 defendants who have failed to show in court have been quickly recaptured.

Marc Bru of Vancouver, Washington, failed to appear for a June 30 hearing in his case, but allegedly continued to post social media messages about the prosecution and the federal search for his whereabouts, as agents sought to track him down.

Justice Department prosecutors said, during the search for Bru, Bru shared tweets about his case that said, "I'm drawing a f*** line in the sand" "I'd rather die than submit to f*** tyrants." Nearly a month later, authorities found Bru in Montana.

A Justice Department court filing said "the defendant encountered Montana state police officers after he was involved in a car accident in which he states he accidentally drove into a ditch and was then hit by a drunk driver. The defendant informed the responding Montana state police officers that he did not have a valid license or car insurance, and that he had a federal warrant out for his arrest. The officers arrested the defendant, confirmed the existence of the federal arrest warrant, notified the U.S. Marshals Service."

Bru was charged with obstruction and entering a restricted building two months after the January 6th attack. Bru had opted to represent himself in his case, before allegedly absconding.

Defendants who fail to show in court and run from authorities risk facing stiffer or additional charges.

Lucius Outlaw, a Howard University associate law professor and former federal defender, said the Jan. 6 defendants will face increased penalties once they're captured.

"If you're going to run, you can get hit with additional charges on top of their charges you're already facing," Outlaw told CBS News. " If you're convicted, the judge is certainly going to take into account that you did not appear in court when you were supposed to and had to be called into court by the U.S. Marshals."

Nearly 1,100 people have been arrested in the U.S. Capitol siege investigation, and hundreds more arrests are still expected.

An FBI spokesperson told CBS News, "The FBI is using its full investigative resources and working closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to pursue those responsible for the U.S. Capitol violence on January 6, 2021."
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[TopHatter]

Proud Boys’ Enrique Tarrio gets record 22 years in prison for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy


Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio speaks at a rally in Delta Park on Sept. 26, 2020, in Portland, Ore.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in prison for orchestrating a failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 election, capping the case with the stiffest punishment that has been handed down yet for the U.S. Capitol attack.

Tarrio, 39, pleaded for leniency before the judge imposed the prison term topping the 18-year sentences given to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and one-time Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean for seditious conspiracy and other convictions stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

Tarrio, who led the neofacist group as it became a force in mainstream Republican circles, lowered his head after the sentence was imposed, then squared his shoulders. He raised his hand and made a “V” gesture with his fingers as he was led out of the courtroom in orange jail garb.

His sentencing comes as the Justice Department prepares to put Trump on trial at the same courthouse in Washington on charges that the then-president illegally schemed to cling to power that he knew had been stripped away by voters.

Rising to speak before the sentence was handed down, Tarrio called Jan. 6 a “national embarrassment,” and apologized to the police officers who defended the Capitol and the lawmakers who fled in fear. His voice cracked as he said he let down his family and vowed that he is done with politics.

“I am not a political zealot. Inflicting harm or changing the results of the election was not my goal,” Tarrio said. “Please show me mercy,” he said, adding, “I ask you that you not take my 40s from me.”

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, said Tarrio was motivated by "revolutionary zeal" to lead the conspiracy that resulted in “200 men, amped up for battle, encircling the Capitol.” Noting that Tarrio had not previously shown any remorse publicly for his crimes, the judge said a stiff punishment was necessary to deter future political violence.

"It can't happen again. It can’t happen again,” the judge repeated.

Tarrio and three lieutenants were convicted in May of seditious conspiracy and other crimes after a months-long trial that served as a vivid reminder of the violent chaos fueled by Trump’s lies about the election that helped inspire right-wing extremists like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.

Prosecutors had sought 33 years behind bars for Tarrio, describing him as the ringleader of a plot to use violence to shatter the cornerstone of American democracy and overturn the election victory by Joe Biden, a Democrat, over Trump, the Republican incumbent.

Prosecutor Conor Mulroe told the judge that the Proud Boys came dangerously close to succeeding in their plot — and noted that “it didn’t take rifles or explosives.”

“There was a very real possibility we were going to wake up on Jan. 7 in a full-blown constitutional crisis,” Mulroe said, with “300 million Americans having no idea who the next president would be or how it would be decided.”

Tarrio wasn’t in Washington, D.C, when Proud Boys members joined thousands of Trump supporters, who smashed windows, beat police officers and poured into the House and Senate chambers as lawmakers met to certify Biden’s victory. But prosecutors say the Miami resident organized and led the Proud Boys’ assault from afar, inspiring followers with his charisma and penchant for propaganda.

Tarrio’s lawyers denied the Proud Boys had any plan to attack the Capitol or stop the certification of Biden’s victory. They argued that prosecutors used Tarrio as a scapegoat for Trump, who spoke at the “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6 and urged his supporters to “fight like hell.”

Tarrio’s younger sister, fiancé and mother tearfully urged the judge to show mercy before the sentence was imposed. Tarrio took off his glasses and wiped his eyes as he listened to his mother speak.

The defense asked for no more than 15 years in prison, arguing that their client should not be punished as harshly as the Oath Keepers’ Rhodes, who was present on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6.

Defense attorney Nayib Hassan told reporters after the hearing that they will appeal.

Tarrio’s lawyers described him as a “keyboard ninja,” who was prone to “talk trash,” but had no intentions of overthrowing the government. The Proud Boys’ only plans that day were to protest the election and confront left-wing antifa activists, attorney Sabino Jauregui told the judge.

“My client is no terrorist,” Jauregui said. “My client is a misguided patriot.”

Tarrio had been arrested two days before the Capitol riot on charges that he defaced a Black Lives Matter banner during an earlier rally in the nation’s capital, and he had complied with a judge’s order to leave the city after his arrest.

The judge agreed with prosecutors that the Proud Boys’ crimes could be punished as “terrorism” — increasing the recommended sentence under federal guidelines. But he ultimately sentenced the Proud Boys to shorter prison terms than those sought by prosecutors.

The backbone of the government’s case was hundreds of messages exchanged by Proud Boys in the days leading up to Jan. 6 that prosecutors say showed how the extremists saw themselves as revolutionaries and celebrated the Capitol attack, which sent lawmakers running into hiding.

The judge pointed to Tarrio's messages cheering on the Capitol attack and the Proud Boys' role in it.

“Make no mistake,” Tarrio wrote in one message. “We did this.” In another post as the Proud Boys swarmed the Capitol, Tarrio commanded: “Do what must be done.” In a Proud Boys encrypted group chat later that day someone asked what they should do next. Tarrio responded, “Do it again.”

He is the final Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy to receive his punishment. Three fellow Proud Boys found guilty by a Washington jury of the rarely used sedition charge were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 18 years.

The Justice Department is appealing the 18-year prison sentence of Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in a separate case, as well as the sentences of other members of his antigovernment militia group that were lighter than what prosecutors had sought. Prosecutors had requested 25 years in prison for Rhodes.
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Um....ray epps?

[TopHatter]

Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio to be sentenced for seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 attack


Need a Judge Roy Brown for the sentencing!

He should've gotten an even 30, at a minimum. But 22 from a Trump-appointed judge? Not great, not terrible.

[Monash]

He should've gotten an even 30, at a minimum. But 22 from a Trump-appointed judge? Not great, not terrible.

Most of the sentences have been in the middle of the ballpark, about half way between what the prosecution wanted and what the defense asked for. The judges involved seem to be very keen not to give the defense any grounds to appeal on the basis of severity. Many with lengthy jail terms may be tempted to do so anyway but if they fail there won't be any grounds for a sentence reduction and they may even get more years on top!

[TopHatter]

Most of the sentences have been in the middle of the ballpark, about half way between what the prosecution wanted and what the defense asked for. The judges involved seem to be very keen not to give the defense any grounds to appeal on the basis of severity. Many with lengthy jail terms may be tempted to do so anyway but if they fail there won't be any grounds for a sentence reduction and they may even get more years on top!

I'm just relieved that this "phase", is over, 2.5 years later. It's been a long, hard road for the justice system but the results have basically been worth it.

For me, the most important and satisfying aspect has been the debunking of Cult45's mythology regarding January 6th. They'll cling to that mythology until the day they die, but posterity will recognize beyond a shadow of a doubt who they were, what they intended and who unleashed them.

[Monash]

I'm just relieved that this "phase", is over, 2.5 years later. It's been a long, hard road for the justice system but the results have basically been worth it.

For me, the most important and satisfying aspect has been the debunking of Cult45's mythology regarding January 6th. They'll cling to that mythology until the day they die, but posterity will recognize beyond a shadow of a doubt who they were, what they intended and who unleashed them.

I tend to believe that the shine has come off the whole 'stolen election' lie for a notable % of conservative right wing voters. They may have voted for Trump in 2020 and at least initially believed his lies but as time passed and no evidence showed up they 'moved on'. Unfortunately that doesn't mean they wouldn't vote for him again if he turned out to be the parties candidate in 2024, just that they more or less 'tune out' continuing claims about the stolen election conspiracy. Which takes some impressive mental gymnastics BTW but it does mean such claims won't have much traction with them next year.