The former leader of the Proud Boys will stay imprisoned while waiting for trial on charges that he conspired with other members of the group to assault the United States Capitol and stop Congress from certifying the unconstitutional 2020 Electoral College results, a federal judge has ruled. Henry “Enrique” Tarrio presents a threat to the general public that can not be reduced by house detention and prohibiting him from utilizing social networks, United States District Judge Timothy Kelly stated in an order provided late Friday.
Tarrio, a South Florida local, has actually been imprisoned since his arrest on March 8, a day after his indictment on charges including conspiracy. A federal magistrate in Miami formerly ordered his pretrial detention.
Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders utilized encrypted channels, social networks, and other electronic interactions to bring and develop a plot to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and hinder the congressional accreditation of the Electoral College vote, according to the indictment.
Tarrio asked Kelly to purchase his release on bond, however, the judge declined the demand. Kelly stated the proof versus Tarrio is “really strong” in spite of Tarrio’s argument that authorities basically do not have “a smoking gun” against him, “perhaps in the form of direct evidence of an order from Tarrio to other Proud Boys to storm the Capitol.”
When the insurrection took location, Tarrio was not in Washington. Cops had actually apprehended Tarrio in the District of Columbia 2 days prior to the riot and charged him with vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historically Black church throughout a demonstration in December 2020. A judge ordered Tarrio to avoid the country’s capital.
Prior to departing Washington, Tarrio met Oath Keepers creator and leader Elmer “Stewart” Rhodes and others in an underground parking lot for around 30 minutes, authorities state. Rhodes and numerous other members or partners of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia group are charged with seditious conspiracy in the Capitol riot.
A documentary filmmaker allegedly tape-recorded part of the garage conference.
“But not much about the substance of the meeting can be gleaned from the clips — at one point, Tarrio and others motion for the filmmaker to stop,” Kelly noted in his order.
Tarrio reportedly has stepped down as Proud Boys’ national chairman.
Five other men connected to the Proud Boys– Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Charles Donohoe, and Dominic Pezzola– were charged in the very same March 7 indictment as Tarrio.
Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy and attack charges and has accepted an offer to cooperate in the Justice Department’s cases versus other Proud Boys members.
Nordean, Biggs, Rehl, and Pezzola likewise stay imprisoned while waiting for a trial set up for August.
Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was a Proud Boys chapter president. Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, has actually identified himself as a Proud Boys organizer. Rehl was president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia. The indictment describes Pezzola, of Rochester, New York, as a member of his regional Proud Boys chapter.
Tarrio attempted to interact with Nordean and Biggs by telephone while the two men were moving in and out of the Capitol, the indictment states.
