The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced Tuesday that Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was arrested in Miami after being named Monday in an indictment in the related to the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
The Proud Boys are a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designated hate group with violent white supremacist ideals. The Canadian government considers the group a terrorist organization.
Authorities in the District of Columbia arrested Tarrio on January 4, 2021, for tearing down and burning a Black Lives Matter banner from a historically Black church on December 12, 2020. Tarrio left jail around 5 PM on January 5, 2021. The Superior Court of the District of Columbia ordered him to leave the city.
Before leaving Washington, Tarrio allegedly met with Elemer Steward Rhodes III, the founder of fellow far-right group the Oath Keepers. Tarrio then traveled to Baltimore. The indictment accuses Tarrio of continuing to “direct and encourage the Proud Boys prior to and during the events” of the January 6 riot. Later, he allegedly “claimed credit for what had happened on social media and in an encrypted chat room during and after the attack.”
The indictment includes one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and two counts of destruction of government property. The indictment also names Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Charles Donohoe and Dominic Pezzola as members of the conspiracy. All five men are Proud Boys members and leaders.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section will prosecute the case.