On Tuesday, the former national chairman of the Patriot group the Proud Boys, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was arrested by the FBI agents.
During the dawn raid in Florida, 38-year-old Tario was arrested on charges of conspiracy in relation to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and carried a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison.
Tarrio appeared in a virtual Miami-based federal court hearing from a cellblock in a nearby local jail, and prosecutors said they were seeking to have him detained pending trial because they believe he is a danger to the community and poses a risk of flight.
The indictment is unusual because Tarrio was not present at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He was arrested two days prior to the insurrection on unrelated charges by Metropolitan D.C. police and was barred by a judge from protesting in the city on Jan. 6.
But prosecutors alleged on Tuesday that Tarrio helped organize and rally the Proud Boys to travel to D.C. with the intent to obstruct Congress’s certification of the Electoral College votes that delivered President Biden his victory.
DOJ said in its release “Tarrio nonetheless continued to direct and encourage the Proud Boys prior to and during the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and… he claimed credit for what had happened on social media and in an encrypted chat room during and after the attack.”
In the indictment, prosecutors say that Tarrio did not immediately leave Washington D.C. after his arrest on the flag and gun charges, despite a court order. Instead, he secretly met with Rhodes in “an underground parking garage.” Prosecutors had previously eyed a partnership between the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys in the run-up to Jan. 6.
He also shared a document with an undisclosed individual titled “1776 returns” which laid out plans to occupy “crucial buildings” in order to “show our politicians We The People are in charge,” according to the filing.
Tarrio later told the same individual “I am not playing games.”
The details of the subpoena revealed that other Proud Boys members “describe prior planning and coordination, including efforts to fundraise for ‘[p]rotective gear and communications.’”A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted the leader of the right-wing Proud Boys on a conspiracy charge stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, the Justice Department announced.
Tarrio is being charged alongside five co-defendants affiliated with the Proud Boys who were all indicted early last year and have since pleaded not guilty to an effort to “stop delay and hinder the certification of the electoral college vote.”
Tarrio was subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in November, alongside Rhodes, the Oath Keepers leader.
The subpoena details how other Proud Boys members “describe prior planning and coordination, including efforts to fundraise for ‘[p]rotective gear and communications.’”
The subpoena also noted a history of acts of violence from Proud Boys members while “video evidence plainly demonstrates that Proud Boys members are involved in the Jan. 6 attack.”
According to the DOJ, Tarrio could face an indictment similar to that facing Rhodes – a move Tarrio told reporters in January he was “absolutely not” worried about.