WASHINGTON — Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio was indicted Tuesday on a conspiracy charge connected to the Capitol riot – the most serious escalation yet of the government’s case against the loose-knit organization.
In an indictment filed in D.C. District Court, federal prosecutors linked Tarrio for the first time to the assault on the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6. Tarrio was photographed on Jan. 5 meeting in a garage with Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and others, but was not in D.C. the following day due to an arrest for illegal possession of high-capacity magazines.
Tarrio pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges in that case and was sentenced to five months in jail. He was released in mid-January, and, at the time, said he would be stepping down from his national role as Proud Boys chairman to focus on issues with his home chapter in Miami, Florida.
Tarrio’s release came a day after a federal grand jury indicted Rhodes and 10 other Oath Keepers on seditious conspiracy charges. Asked at the time if he was worried he would be indicted next, Tarrio said, “Absolutely not.”
The indictment charges Tarrio with seven counts:
- Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
- Obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting
- Obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and aiding and abetting
- Destruction of government property and aiding and abetting
- Assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers (x2)
Tarrio joins the case of four Proud Boys leaders previously charged with conspiracy: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Charles Donohoe. The superseding indictment filed this week also adds New York Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola – who was filmed breaking the window that let the first rioters into the Capitol.
Pezzola’s co-defendant, Matthew Greene, 34, of Syracuse, New York, was the first and to-date only Proud Boy charged in the Capitol riot to agree to a plea deal with the government. That deal included a cooperation agreement.
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