SEDITION! Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio, four others charged in coup plot

SEDITION! Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio, four others charged in indictment with possible death penalty

This story has a correction.

Former Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the radical right-wing gang had their federal indictments upgraded from merely conspiring to obstruct the certification of the 2020 presidential election to seditious conspiracy today, documents unsealed in federal court revealed.

This latest development puts the Proud Boy defendants in the same traitorous category as Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, and 10 other members of that militia who have also been charged with seditious conspiracy for their actions surrounding the January 2021 violent assault on the Capitol designed to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to the lawfully elected Joe Biden.

Tarrio has been held in prison without bail since his arrest in March for his previous indictment. Now he and four other Proud Boys — Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola — face even more serious charges that carry penalties that could include up to 20-years behind bars.

According to The New York Times, “a charge of seditious conspiracy requires prosecutors to prove that force was used either to overthrow the government or to interfere with the execution of federal law,” meaning that the Justice Department likely has enough evidence indicating the use of force to be confident in bringing the new charges.

The indictment against Tarrio comes despite the fact that he was not present at the Capitol on the January 6th because a Washington D.C. judge had ordered him to stay out of the city due to being charged with burning a Black Lives Matter banner at a church during a different pro-Trump rally in December.

Federal prosecutors said that they could indict Tarrio on the seditious conspiracy charges even though he wasn’t on the scene of the crime on January 6th because he “led the advance planning and remained in contact with other members of the Proud Boys during” the violent insurrection.

The indictment against Tarrio and the other Proud Boys comes as the extremist group has tried to infiltrate the corridors of power in the Republican Party in South Florida.

Hopefully, this new indictment will make that task more difficult for the remaining members of the Proud Boys to continue their march to legitimacy in the Republican Party and help the Justice Department determine if their efforts were funded or directed by anyone in the Trump campaign.

Original reporting by Alan Feuer and Adam Goldman at The New York Times.

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Correction: Seditious conspiracy charges are not punishable by the death penalty. The headline has been changed to remove the death penalty reference, as well as mentions inside the body of the story updated with sources added.

Vinnie Longobardo

Managing Editor

Vinnie Longobardo is the Managing Editor of Occupy Democrats. He's a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.