Posted on 10/24/2018 3:34:30 PM PDT by seacapn
Four Local Members of White Supremacy Group Face Federal Charges in Attacks at Political Rallies across California
LOS ANGELES – Four Southern California men who allegedly are members of a white supremacy extremist group have been named in a federal criminal complaint that charges them of travelling to political rallies across California, where they violently attacked counter-protesters, journalists and a police officer.
Three of the four defendants are now in custody, and authorities are continuing to search for the fourth defendant.
The criminal complaint unsealed today alleges that the four defendants are members of the Southern California-based “Rise Above Movement” (RAM) and that they used the internet “with the intent to organize, promote, encourage, participate in, or carry on riots.”
The four RAM members allegedly engaged in a series of violent attacks at political rallies in 2017, including events in Huntington Beach, Berkeley and San Bernardino.
The affidavit in support of the complaint alleges that the men used the internet to coordinate “combat training,” attendance and travel prior to the events, and then to “celebrate their acts of violence in order to recruit members for future events.”
The three men taken into custody are:
Robert Rundo, 28, of Huntington Beach, allegedly a founding member of RAM and the man behind RAM’s Twitter account, who made his first court appearance on Monday, and at a hearing this morning in United States District Court was ordered detained pending trial;
Robert Boman, 25, of Torrance, who was arrested this morning by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is expected to appear in federal court this afternoon; and
Tyler Laube, 22, of Redondo Beach, who also was arrested this morning by the FBI and is expected to appear in court this afternoon.
The fourth defendant named in the complaint – Aaron Eason, 38, who resides in the Riverside County community of Anza – is currently being sought by federal authorities.
“Every American has a right to peacefully organize, march and protest in support of their beliefs – but no one has the right to violently assault their political opponents,” said United States Attorney Nick Hanna. “The allegations describe an orchestrated effort to squelch free speech as members of the conspiracy travelled to multiple locations to attack those who hold different views. This case demonstrates our commitment to preserve and protect the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.”
“The safeguarding of Constitutionally-protected activity is at the heart of the FBI’s mission,” said Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “There is no place in our democracy, however, for lawbreaking by individuals who cross the line from protected free speech to violence in the name of extremist ideology.”
According to the complaint, which charges the four defendants with violating the federal conspiracy and riots statutes:
At the Huntington Beach “Make America Great Again” rally on March 25, 2017, members of RAM broke off from the main rally and confronted counter-protesters, where Rundo, Boman and Laube attacked a number of people, including two journalists.
In the weeks following this melee, RAM members celebrated the attacks, which were noted on a neo-Nazi website, and solicited others to attend an upcoming rally in Berkeley, as well as combat training to be held in a park in San Clemente.
At the Berkeley rally on April 15, 2017, Rundo, Boman and Eason were involved in violent attacks, which resulted in Rundo being arrested after punching a “defenseless person” and a Berkeley Police Officer.
In the subsequent months, RAM members celebrated the assaults in Berkeley, which included Boman posting photos of himself attacking people and RAM members engaging in combat training.
On June 10, 2017, Rundo and other RAM members attended an “Anti-Islamic Law” rally in San Bernardino, where they participated in violent attacks.
The case announced today follows the filing of an indictment in federal court in Charlottesville, Virginia that charges four other California RAM members with violating the riots statute during violent altercations at a torch-lit march at the University of Virginia and Unite the Right Rally in August 2017. The affidavit unsealed today in Los Angeles noted the connections between the defendants in both cases.
RAM and its members documented and promoted their white supremacy ideology through postings on various internet platforms and through graffiti, including tags found in Irvine. In a video posted online earlier this year and described in the complaint, Rundo said he was “a big supporter of the fourteen,” which is a reference to the “14 words,” a slogan used by white supremacists and neo-Nazis that reads: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
In the spring of 2018, Rundo and two of the men charged in the Charlottesville case travelled to Europe to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday and to meet with members of other white supremacy extremist groups, according to the complaint.
“Rundo, Boman, Laube, and Eason, along with other RAM members, have used the internet to prepare to incite and participate in violence at various political events, have committed violent assaults while at those events, and have applauded each other for it and publicly documented their assaults in order to recruit more members to engage in further assaults,” the complaint alleges.
A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
If convicted of the conspiracy and riots charges in the complaint, each defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, the Redondo Police Department and the Torrance Police Department provided assistance in relation to this morning’s arrests.
This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David T. Ryan of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section in the National Security Division of the United States Attorney’s Office.
If this is supposed to make Sessions look good it is backfiring. Leftists won’t be satisfied or impressed. Good people will notice that the justice system is asleep or in a coma when asked to fight dangerous Antifa and other Soros terrorist groups (such as the Dem Party,I say). And why doesn’t Sessions indict Hillary and Lock Her Up?
Intimidating these people will not improve justice in America.
I’m sure this part of Sessions’ rope-a-dope strategy. Those 50,000 Dem miscreants are going to be rounded up as soon as Gitmo is expanded. I know that because it’s on FR!
Because they wear masks......
Soooooo....thousands of illegal aliens march towards a violent confrontation with the American nation but what animates Jeff Sessions is....angry white guys
It’s OK for Eric Clanton to beat people with a bike lock. No federal charges. It’s OK for Trump supporters in San Jose to be violently attacked at a peaceful gathering. Again, no federal charges. It’s OK for Antifa punks to attack old people, Republicans, and Trump supporters in addition to vandalizing Reublican party offices. Jeff’s not concerned.
Nope. It’s all cool.
What worries Jeff is...white people getting outta control.
The idiot is beyond belief.
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Exactly.
“”How are those Antifa arrests coming along?””
Couldn’t help but have that same thought while reading the article!! What made these 3 or 4 stand out from the hundreds/thousands of others who have been causing trouble since the 2016 election? Selective arrests, selective prosecution, I guess!
Wonder how many black pampers or antofu maggots the feckless toadies have hauled in lately ?
Counterprotesters of no identifiable political extremist ideology?
Good.
That said is there anyone else??? (oh never mind)
Communists say that the Republicans and Trump in Houston Monday were Fascists.
The ‘alt right’ rally was organized street theater by an Obama sucking socialist who pretends to have ‘changed teams’.
What an amazing coincidence. A counter story to leftist mobs right before the election. One might get the impression this is a false flag or something.
These criminal charges are in addition to the Federal charges filed in Virginia relating to RAM’s participation in last year’s Unite the Right rallies organized by Richard Spencer.
Charlottesville was the triggering event that put these guys on the Feds radar in the first place, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Remarkably similar to the Brit’s mistreatment of the EDL blokes. The leftists infesting governments are the same on both sides of the pond.
Looks like a typical set-up by the California commies against white men. And our hero Jeff is participating.
Hey, Jeff, when you going after the Antifa terrorists?
“Charlottesville was the triggering event that put these guys on the Feds radar in the first place, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.”
According to whom - the left-wing media? Come on, Mac, you know better than that.
The chickens coming home to roost is the leftist media plan playing out to attack patriots for Trump.
.
The only “White Supremacy” group is a bunch of leftists paid by soros.
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The guys they arrested are Antifa.
No; that’s the problem - “antifa” members are NOT being arrested. They appear to have some sort of government protection. Antifa propaganda was even cited as EVIDENCE in one of the federal indictments released a few weeks ago.
Forget it Jake, it’s Commiefornia. I don’t believe anything from them.
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