NEW YORK (AP) – Two men identified as members of the Proud Boys have been indicted for federal conspiracy and other charges in the Capitol riot, while prosecutors are raising the stakes in some of the many cases arising from the January 6 uprising.
Dominic Pezzola, a former Marine who authorities say was seen in a video breaking a Capitol window with a stolen shock shield from the police, and William Pepe, who authorities said was photographed inside the building, were arrested at beginning of the month on federal charges that illegally included entering a restricted building. The two, both from New York State, have now been indicted in Washington on charges that include conspiracy.
“The purpose of the conspiracy was to obstruct, influence, prevent and interfere with the officers involved in their official duties in protecting the United States Capitol and its grounds,” says the prosecution, accusing Pezzola, Pepe and others not identified of leading a group of Proud Boys and others for the Capitol and police barricades on the move there.
Pezzola went on to steal a policeman’s shield and use it to break the window, according to the indictment, which was presented to the court on Friday.
Pezzola’s lawyer, Michael Scibetta, said on Saturday that he was investigating the charges, but had not yet been able to discuss the charge with his client, who is being held without bail. Pepe’s lawyer, Shelli Peterson, declined to comment.
Three members who call themselves a paramilitary group have been charged with conspiracy this month and accused of plotting the attack on the Capitol. But the new charges against Pezzola and Pepe appear to be the first cases of conspiracy involving alleged members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group that describes itself as “Western chauvinists”.
Michael Sherwin, the US attorney in charge in Washington, said in a court that he filed on Friday that Pezzola “showed perseverance, determination and coordination in being on the front line at every step along the way before invading the Capitol” , and that his actions were destructive to the window and allowing an initial group of hooligans to pass “cannot be overstated.”
Pezzola was later seen on video inside the Capitol with a cigar, having what he called “victory smoke” and boasting that “he knew we could take it on,” wrote Sherwin. He argued that the comments showed that Pezzola “invested a significant personal effort to take over Capitol and that he did so in coordination with others”.
An unidentified witness told the FBI that Pezzola was with a group on Capitol Hill whose members said they would have killed anyone they could, including Mayor Nancy Pelosi and then Vice President Mike Pence, according to prosecutors. The witness added that people in the group said they would return on the “20th” and kill everyone they could. The presidential inauguration was on January 20.
In a search of Pezzola’s home in Rochester, New York, FBI agents found a flash drive with hundreds of files detailing how to make firearms, poisons or explosives, Sherwin wrote arguing that Pezzola should remain in custody without bail.
Pezzola, 43, served six years in the Marines as an infantryman and was released in 2005 as a corporal, service records show. His lawyer said his client is self-employed and a family man.
Pepe, 31, was photographed inside the Capitol and later identified as a Metro-North Railroad rail worker who called saying he was ill to go to Washington for a January 6 protest by supporters of then President Donald Trump, according to a January 11 newspaper criminal criminal complaint. Pepe, who lives in Beacon, in the Hudson Valley, in New York, was suspended unpaid for his work on the suburban railroad in New York City.
At Trump’s request, thousands of protesters went to the Capitol. Some then invaded it, temporarily interrupting Congressional certification of Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory over Republican Trump in the November elections.
Overall, federal authorities have accused more than 150 people in the siege of the Capitol.
The Justice Department said Pepe and Pezzola went to the Proud Boys’ meetings and wore tactical vests stamped with the group’s logo.
The group is known for violent clashes with anti-fascists and other ideological opponents in protests. At a remarkable moment in last year’s campaign, Trump told the group to “step back and wait” when asked in a September debate whether he would condemn white supremacist groups and militias that appeared in some protests last summer.
Just before the Capitol rebellion, Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was arrested in Washington and sentenced to stay out of town after being accused of vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church in December.