A federal judge has ordered that the former leader of the Proud Boy’s will be held in jail while awaiting trial on charges that the group conspired to attack the U.S. Capitol, and prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory.
Timothy Kelly, U.S. District Judge, stated that Henry “Enrique” Tarrio is a public danger and should be held in home detention. He also should be banned from using social media.
Tarrio is a South Florida resident and was arrested on March 8. This came just one day after he was indicted on conspiracy charges. His pretrial detention was previously ordered by a federal magistrate in Miami.
According to the indictment, Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders used encrypted communications, social media, and other electronic communication to plan and execute a plot to storm Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and disrupt the congressional certification of the Electoral College election vote.
Tarrio requested Kelly to release Tarrio on bond. The judge declined. Kelly stated that the evidence against Tarrio was “very strong”, despite Tarrio’s claim that authorities don’t have “a smoking gun”. Kelly suggested that Tarrio could be able to show Kelly direct evidence of Tarrio’s order to the Proud Boys to storm Capitol.
Tarrio wasn’t in Washington at the time of the insurrection. Tarrio was arrested in the District of Columbia by police two days prior to the riot. He was charged with vandalizing the Black Lives Matter banner at an historic Black church during a December 2020 protest. Tarrio was ordered by a judge to avoid the capital.
Authorities say that Tarrio spent approximately 30 minutes with Elmer “Stewart,” Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, before he left Washington. Rhodes, along with several members and associates of Oath Keepers militia are being charged with conspiring to seditious attack on the Capitol.
Part of the garage meeting was captured by a documentary filmmaker.
Kelly stated in his order that “but not much about what the substance of the meeting can gleaned from clips — at one time, Tarrio & others motion for Tarrio to stop.”
Tarrio claims that he has been removed as the Proud Boys’ national chair.
Tarrio was also indicted on March 7, along with five other Proud Boys men — Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs as well as Zachary Rehl and Charles Donohoe.
Donohoe, 34-year-old from Kernersville, North Carolina pleaded guilty to conspiracy and assault charges in April. He also agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department in its cases against other Proud Boys members.
While they await a August trial, Nordean and Biggs, Rehl, and Pezzola remain in jail.
Nordean, from Auburn, Washington was a Proud Boys Chapter president. Biggs, from Ormond Beach in Florida, described himself as a Proud Boys organizer. Rehl was the president of Philadelphia’s Proud Boys chapter. Pezzola, a Rochester, New York resident, is named in the indictment as being a member his local Proud Boys Chapter.
According to the indictment, Tarrio attempted to contact Biggs and Nordean by telephone while they were both moving around the Capitol.
