PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia prosecutors say a Virginia man who was caught with guns near the Pennsylvania Convention Center as votes were being tabulated in November 2020 should be jailed for using social media and attending a political rally in violation of his bail conditions.
The District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday asked a judge to revoke the $850,000 bail set for Joshua Macias, the 43-year-old co-founder of Veterans for Trump who is awaiting trial on charges of illegal gun possession and interfering with an election. Police said he and his alleged co-conspirator, Antonio LaMotta, were each found with a handgun, and investigators found an AR-15 style rifle and 117 rounds in their Hummer, which had QAnon insignia on it.
It’s the second time prosecutors have asked a judge to lock up Macias before trial. In January, they asked Common Pleas Court Judge Crystal Bryant-Powell to revoke Macias’ bail after presenting video evidence showing him and LaMotta on the Capitol grounds the day of the deadly insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
Bryant-Powell instead increased Macias’ bail by $100,000 and both defendants were barred from using social media or attending political rallies while their cases are pending.
But prosecutors say Macias violated both of those conditions by making and appearing in a number of social media posts, including a video from a “trucker protest” in Washington, D.C., on March 8. Attorneys wrote in court papers filed this week that Macias’ “distinctive voice can be heard throughout,” and the narrator of the video identifies himself as “J.M.”
District Attorney Larry Krasner said during a news conference that text messages between Macias and LaMotta before they were arrested in Philadelphia were of a “military nature” and showed the men are “dangerous.”
“They should be locked up,” he said. “They should have been locked up from the jump.”
Macias’ attorney, William J. Brennan, declined to comment. A hearing on the request is scheduled for Wednesday. LaMotta remains free on bail.
The court filing cites a handful of postings made by Veterans for America First, which Macias cofounded. The group operates a website on which users can create profiles and post messages. One such poster is named Joshua, has the initials “J.M.,” and was listed as a founder of the group, prosecutors wrote. The user posted as recently as a week ago.
The group also posted two videos on Facebook in February depicting Macias endorsing political candidates, and last week shared a video “also seemingly featuring Macias” from a rally for a Virginia congressional candidate, according to the filing.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Collins said investigators were alerted to the social media activity by multiple sources, including a news reporter asking questions about the matter and an independent investigator.
One of those sources was Kristofer Goldsmith, a researcher and senior fellow for the Innovation Lab at the organization Human Rights First. Goldsmith, who is part of what he called “a collection of veterans who are explicitly anti-fascist,” said he has repeatedly alerted the District Attorney’s Office to social media activity he has uncovered and tied to Macias, including posts made on the Veterans For America First platform.
The Iraq war veteran said he watched a livestream of Krasner announcing the motion to revoke bail and felt like “I served my country today.”
“As a veteran advocate and as an investigator of basically the internet’s darkest stuff, my life is filled with a lot of stuff that’s tough to deal with,” he said. “But wins like this, when I see justice in motion, that makes it worth it.”
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Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this article.
