Federal authorities arrested a man on Wednesday who describes himself as the “Sergeant-at-Arms” of the Seattle chapter of the far-right group Proud Boys after he was charged with connection to the US Capitol riot last month.
Ethan Nordean, 30, who also serves for Rufio Panman, was accused of obstructing or impeding an official, auxiliary and inciting procedure, and of intentionally entering or staying in a restricted building. The most serious of the charges is up to 20 years in prison.
He is at least the eighth defendant linked to the Proud Boys, male and extremist, facing federal charges after thousands of pro-Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol while Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
A grand jury in Washington, DC, on Wednesday indicted two of those defendants, Nicholas DeCarlo, of Burleson, Texas, and Nicholas R. Ochs, of Honolulu, Hawaii, after their arrests last month. Among other things, the duo is accused of doodling “Murder the media” on a Capitol door and stealing a pair of flexible handcuffs that belonged to the Capitol police. Ochs is one of the founders of the Proud Boys chapter in Hawaii.
Nordean made a first appearance at the United States District Court in Seattle on Wednesday afternoon, represented by public defender Corey Endo. A judge ordered him to remain in custody until a status conference and a detention hearing on Monday.
The FBI said he was arrested without incident at his home in Auburn, south of Seattle.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, Nordean is known for fighting left-wing antifa protesters in Portland, knocking out one of them in a 2018 video-captured showdown.
“We tried for a long time to get our son out of the way that led to his arrest today – to no avail,” his father, Mike Nordean, said by email on Wednesday. “Ethan will be held responsible for his actions.”
Prosecutors said Nordean was posting before the riot about plans to organize a group and posted a video with the caption: “May they remember the day they decided to make war on us”. He also posted videos talking to other members of the Proud Boys about what he described as “flagrant and rampant electoral fraud”, according to investigators.
The authorities claim that Nordean told others that they should not be complacent and that the Proud Boys would “bring back that original 1776 spirit of what really established the character of what America is”. Later in the video, prosecutors say, Nordean said: “Is democracy dead? Well, then there is no peace for you. Without democracy, without peace. “
“It is evident now, more than ever, that if you are a patriot, you will be the target and they will come after you, the funny thing is that they do not realize that we are going after them,” he said, according to prosecutors. “You chose your side, black and yellow combined with red, white and blue against everyone else.”
Nordean was marching in front of a group of Proud Boys just before the riot broke out and stormed the Capitol building with other members of the group, prosecutors said. They accuse Nordean of being close to the front of the crowd of protesters and then confronted the Capitol police in far fewer numbers.
Two days after the riot, prosecutors said, he posted a photo of a Capitol police officer shooting pepper spray with the caption: “If you feel bad about the police, you’re part of the problem …”