The former national chairman of the SPLC-designated hate group Proud Boys has been indicted on conspiracy and additional charges in connection with the fatal Capitol riot.
Tuesday, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was announced as having been arrested, with the expectation that an initial court appearance would take place the same day in Florida. Tarrio was named in a superseding indictment in D.C., as were five additional defendants.
Noted in a DOJ press release on Tuesday was that while Tarrio isn’t accused of “physically taking part” in the breach, he’s alleged in the indictment to have “led the advance planning.” Additionally, Tarrio is alleged to have stayed in contact with other Proud Boys members throughout the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
Tarrio has now been indicted on conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstruction of an official proceeding charges. He also faces two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, as well as two counts of destruction of government property.
Notably, on Jan. 4 of last year, Tarrio was arrested in connection with the December 2020 burning of a Black Lives Matter banner. Upon his subsequent release the following day, he was ordered to not return to Washington.
The new indictment can be read in full here and further alleges that Tarrio later took credit for the Capitol breach, both on social media and “in an encrypted chat room.” According to prosecutors, Tarrio served as Proud Boys’ “national chairman” until at least Jan. 6, 2021. At one point, Tarrio is said to have launched a division of the group billed as the Ministry of Self Defense.
In its Extremist Files profile of Proud Boys, the Southern Poverty Law Center states that the group was founded in NYC in 2016. Citing the Capitol riot, the Canadian government was reported last February to have formally designated Proud Boys as a “terrorist entity.”
