A North Carolina man pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring with other members of the far-right Proud Boys to violently stop the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election, making him the first member of the extremist group to plead guilty to one count of seditious conspiracy.
Jeremy Joseph Bertino, 43, has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation into the role Proud Boys leaders played in the mob attack on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021, a federal prosecutor said.
Bertino’s cooperation could increase pressure on other Proud Boys accused in the siege, including former national president Henry “Enrique” Tarrio.
The guilty plea comes as the founder of another extremist group, Oath Keepers, and four associates separately charged in the Jan. 6 attack are tried on one count of seditious conspiracy, a Civil War-era crime that is rarely once used and that requires up to 20 years behind bars.
Bertino traveled to Washington with other Proud Boys in December 2020 and was stabbed during a fight, according to court documents. He was not in Washington for the Jan. 6 riots because he was still recovering from his injuries, court documents say.
Bertino participated in planning sessions in the days leading up to Jan. 6 and received encrypted messages on Jan. 4 indicating that the Proud Boys were discussing storming the Capitol, according to authorities.
An offense statement filed in court says Bertino understood the Proud Boys’ goal in traveling to Washington was to stop Joe Biden’s victory from being certified and that the group was prepared to use force and violence if necessary to do it.
Bertino also pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in March 2022 in Belmont, North Carolina. US District Judge Timothy Kelly agreed to release Bertino pending a sentencing hearing, which was not immediately scheduled.
Justice Department prosecutor Erik Kenerson said sentencing guidelines for Bertino’s case recommend a prison sentence of four years and three months to five years and three months.
A trial is scheduled to begin in December for Tarrio and four other members charged with seditious conspiracy: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. The charging document in the Bertino case names those five defendants and a sixth member of the Proud Boys as his accomplices.
The indictment in Tarrio’s case alleges that the Proud Boys held meetings and communicated via encrypted messages to plan the attack in the days leading up to Jan. 6. On the day of the riots, authorities say, the Proud Boys dismantled the metal barricades set up on Capitol Hill and mobilized, directed and led members of the crowd into the building.
Bertino’s video testimony was presented in June at the first House committee hearing that investigated on Jan. 6. The committee showed Bertino saying the group’s membership “probably tripled” after Trump’s comment in a presidential debate that the Proud Boys should “stand back and support.”
Tarrio was not in Washington on January 6, but authorities say he helped spark the violence that day. Police arrested Tarrio in Washington two days before the riots and charged him with ripping up a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic black church during a protest in December 2020. Tarrio was released from jail on January 14 of this year after to serve his five-month sentence. for that case
Federal authorities have identified more than three dozen people charged in the Capitol riots as leaders, members or associates of the Proud Boys. Two, Matthew Greene and Charles Donohoe, pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote.
[Con información de The Associated Press]
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