![]() ![]() Though Tarrio did not take part in the Capitol insurrection, at least five Proud Boys members have been charged in the riot. Superior Court ordered him to leave the city pending a court date in June. He was charged with possessing two high-capacity rifle magazines, and burning a Black Lives Matter banner during a December demonstration by supporters of former President Donald Trump. Washington police arrested Tarrio in early January when he arrived in the city two days before the Capitol Hill riot. The records uncovered by Reuters are startling because they show that a leader of a far-right group now under intense scrutiny by law enforcement was previously an active collaborator with criminal investigators. The Proud Boys were involved in the deadly insurrection at the Capitol January 6. Tarrio, 36, is a high-profile figure who organizes and leads the right-wing Proud Boys in their confrontations with those they believe to be Antifa, short for “anti-fascism,” an amorphous and often violent leftist movement. In a statement to Reuters, the former federal prosecutor in Tarrio’s case, Vanessa Singh Johannes, confirmed that “he cooperated with local and federal law enforcement, to aid in the prosecution of those running other, separate criminal enterprises, ranging from running marijuana grow houses in Miami to operating pharmaceutical fraud schemes.” When police pulled Tarrio over, officers found two unloaded magazines emblazoned with the Proud Boys logo in his bag that had a capacity of 30 rounds each, authorities said.Law-enforcement officials and the court transcript contradict Tarrio’s denial. Tarrio was seen with the sign in video of the incident posted on YouTube, according to a police report. The banner was ripped from Asbury United Methodist Church property, torn and set aflame in December. He was accused of vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during an earlier protest in the nation’s capital. 4, two days before the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in a bid to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. Tarrio was arrested in Washington on Jan. And he has in fact cooperated in a significant way, the prosecutor said, according to the transcript. Tarrios lawyer said he was the first defendant to cooperate in the case and was also involved in a variety of police undercover operations involving things like anabolic steroids and prescription narcotics.įrom day one, he was the one who wanted to talk to law enforcement, wanted to clear his name, wanted to straighten this out so that he could move on with his life. ![]() In an interview with Reuters, Tarrio denied ever cooperating with authorities.Īfter Tarrios 2012 indictment, he helped the government prosecute more than a dozen other people, the federal prosecutor told the judge, according to the transcript. Your Honor, frankly, in all the years, which is now more than 30 that Ive been doing this, Ive never had a client as prolific in terms of cooperating in any respect, said Tarrio’s lawyer at the time, Jeffrey Feiler, according to the transcript.Īn email seeking comment was not immediately returned from a lawyer representing Tarrio in his current case. ![]() The judge agreed to reduce his sentence to 16 months, the records show. The prosecutor and Tarrio’s defense attorney both cited Tarrio’s extensive cooperation in arguing that his sentence of 30 months should be cut. The details of Tarrio’s cooperation, which was first reported Wednesday by Reuters, were found in a transcript of a 2014 hearing in federal court in Florida regarding his sentence for participating in a scheme involving the resale of diabetic test strips. The Proud Boys have railed against a deep state and work to break down the current government system, and so the revelations of Tarrio as a federal informant came as quite a surprise. The Proud Boys is a far-right, male chauvinist extremist group that seized on the Trump administrations policies and was a major agitator during earlier protests and the Capitol riot on Jan. Henry Enrique Tarrio helped law enforcement in a variety of investigations nearly a decade ago by providing information and going undercover, the records show. The leader of the Proud Boys, who was arrested in Washington shortly before the Capitol riot, previously worked undercover and cooperated with investigators after he was accused of fraud in 2012, court documents show.
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