The Capitol Riot conspiracy case charged two members belonging to the far-right group, the “Proud Boys” this Friday, January 29th for conspiring to hamper law enforcement during the January 6th riots at the Federal building.
Up till now, Federal prosecutors have charged more than 170 people with regards to the Capitol Riot earlier this month. However, the Proud Boys are among the few who have been charged with conspiracy.
Both the members were previously arrested on lesser charges by Federal prosecutors for removing metal barricades and stealing shield material from Capitol Hill’s police force. However, both Dominic Pezzola, 43 and William Pepe, 31 were recently served with fresh conspiracy charges by the grand jury during their Friday indictment hearing. These new allegations link them to the far-right organization, the Proud Boys, a group of people who were asked to “stand back and stand by” by the former US President Donald Trump.
FBI Steps Up Ways Of Prosecution Of Capitol Riot Offenders
Both the Pezzola and Pepe who are from Rochester and New York respectively have been spotted smashing windows during the Capitol riot. Both of them sported a t-short that contained the logo of Proud Boys.
The US Attorney involved in the Capitol riot cases said in a statement on Tuesday that they will be changing their process of identification. Rather than going by every identifiable internet face in the videos, they will move in a more systematic way by forming strong cases against individuals and linking them to potentially harmful or militia groups if any and coordinating their actions with members of the same group.
Currently, both the Capitol riots offenders, Pezzola and Pepe have charges of civil disorder, conspiracy, unlawful entry into restricted buildings, disorderly conduct, impeding law enforcement officers and so on against them.
