MIAMI — Federal agents on Tuesday arrested former Proud Boys national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio in Miami on conspiracy charges alleging he played a leadership role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol while Congress was certifying the presidential election.
At Tarrio’s first appearance in Miami federal court, prosecutors said they want to detain him before trial because he is a danger to the community and a risk of flight, without providing further explanation.
Tarrio, 38, has a federal criminal history in Miami that will be a major factor for a magistrate judge in deciding whether to detain him or grant him a bond before trial. A decade ago, Tarrio pleaded guilty in a healthcare-related fraud case and then assisted federal investigators in targeting a dozen other suspects, court records show.
An indictment filed in Washington, D.C., alleges that Tarrio directed the Proud Boys in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, and that he later claimed credit for the assault on social media and in an encrypted chat room during and after it.
Tarrio was indicted on one count each of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstruction of an official proceeding, as well as two counts each of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and destruction of government property.
Tarrio joins Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes as the two most high-profile defendants charged by the Justice Department in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
Tarrio’s detention hearing is set for Friday, when the issue of his transfer to the District of Columbia is going to be addressed.
Tarrio told Magistrate Judge Alicia Otazo-Reyes that he was recently hired by a T-shirt printer and makes between $400 and $500 a week, but that he has no savings or assets. She assigned the Federal Public Defender’s Office to represent him in the Miami proceedings.
Whether he is detained or gets bail, Tarrio will soon be transferred to the District of Columbia to face charges with others for a conspiracy to disrupt a joint session of Congress. He was added as a defendant to an existing indictment that includes five previously charged Proud Boys’ defendants, according to the Justice Department.
Others named in that indictment are: Ethan Nordean, 31, of Auburn, Washington.; Joseph Biggs, 38, of Ormond Beach, Florida; Zachary Rehl, 36, of Philadelphia; Charles Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, North Carolina; and Dominic Pezzola, 44, of Rochester, New York, the Justice Department said. All were previously detained and pleaded not guilty to charges.
In court documents, the Proud Boys described itself as a “pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world, aka Western Chauvinists.” In December 2020, Tarrio created a special chapter of the Proud Boys known as the “Ministry of Self Defense,” and was national chairman of the Proud Boys up until the insurrection at the Capitol.
At that time, Tarrio and his co-defendants conspired to corruptly obstruct, influence and impede an official proceeding, the certification of the Electoral College vote, according to the indictment.
Although Tarrio is not accused of “physically” participating in the Capitol breach, the indictment alleges he led the advance planning and remained in contact with other members of the Proud Boys during their attack, according to the Justice Department.
Previously, Tarrio was arrested on Jan. 4, 2021, and charged with destruction of property in the Dec. 12, 2020, burning of a Black Lives Matter banner. He was released a day later after being ordered by a Superior Court judge in the District of Columbia to stay out of Washington. He later pleaded guilty to burning the banner.
