Jeremy Bertino, a former lieutenant member of the inner circle of the Proud Boys, has become the first member of the far-right group to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy for his role in the Capitol Hill riot.
The individual pleaded guilty to two charges, which include unlawful possession of a firearm on top of the seditious conspiracy charge. Bertino also agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in the case.
Proud Boys Member Pleads Guilty
He is expected to cooperate and potentially provide testimony against five other members of the Proud Boys extremist group. This includes the group's founder, Enrique Tarrio, who all have already been charged with seditious conspiracy and is scheduled to go to trial in December.
Congressmembers presented a video during a Jan. 6 House Committee hearing that showed Bertino saying that former United States President Donald Trump's remarks that the Proud Boys should "stand back and stand by" tripled membership of the extremist group in 2020.
Similar to Tarrio, Bertino is not alleged to have participated in the actual attack on the Capitol building and was not in Washington, D.C., at the time of the riot. However, in his plea, he admitted to assisting the group plans its operations leading up to the unprecedented incident and sending messages of encouragement to the group's members while they were storming the Capitol, as per ABC News.
The formerly convicted felon faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. This comes alongside an obligation to pay a penalty of any fine or restitution not done in a timely manner, for his seditious conspiracy charge.
Furthermore, for the charge of unlawful possession of a firearm, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The court estimated that Bertino would be sentenced to between 51 to 63 months in prison and be fined between $20,000 to $200,000, which will be decided by Judge Timothy Kelly.
Seditious Conspiracy
According to the Washington Post, prosecutors, signaling the sensitivity and potential importance of Bertino's testimony, agreed that in exchange for "substantial cooperation," they could seek leniency at sentencing and place the defendant into a Justice Department witness protection program.
Bertino noted in plea papers that Proud Boys leaders "agreed that the election had been stolen," and that the purpose of traveling to Washington, D.C., on the day of the riot was to stop the certification of the Electoral College vote. He added that they, including the leaders of the Ministry of Self-Defense, were willing to use force to achieve that objective.
Two days earlier, he admitted that he received encrypted chat messages that indicated that members of the far-right extremist group's leadership faction, who called themselves the Ministry of Self-Defense, believed that storming the Capitol building would be their success.
The five other members who are set for trial are Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola. The Proud Boys leader, Tarrio's case, is by far, the most serious charge in relation to the Capitol attack, the Associated Press reported.
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