Proud Boys member pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy in January 6 riot

A Proud Boys member has been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the US Capitol riots, and could now stand as a state witness against key leaders of the far-right group.

Jeremy Joseph Bertino, 43, pleaded in federal court for the District of Columbia on Thursday and agreed to cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation.

Bertino’s partnership could increase pressure on other Proud Boys accused of the January 6, 2021 riots, including the group’s former national president, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio.

Prosecutors say Bertino, aka “Noble Beard,” was a member of an elite Proud Boys cell dubbed the “Ministry of Self Defense” (MOSD), and participated in coded group chats discussing plans to disrupt Congress. in certifying the 2020 elections.

Bertino’s partnership could increase pressure on other Proud Boys accused of the January 6, 2021 riots, including the group’s former chairman, Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio (above)

Though he is the first Proud Boys member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy — a seldom-used Civil War crime that faces up to 20 years behind bars — Bertino wasn’t actually present in Washington DC on Jan. 6.

Instead, the North Carolina resident was recovering from stab wounds he sustained in a Dec. 12, 2020 brawl with left-wing Antifa members at a rally in DC.

Prosecutors say, however, that even as he recovered from his injuries, Bertino continued to participate in group chats about the possibility of storming the Capitol.

The DOJ says it itself sent messages to MOSD leaders and members on Jan. 6 to encourage and assist the operation, such as advising those on the Capitol grounds to “form a spear.”

During the riots, Bertino applauded the attack from afar and sent messages encouraging other Proud Boys to proceed to the Capitol.

‘DO NOT GO HOME. WE ARE SOON TO SAVE THE CONSTITUTION,” he wrote on a social media account. That evening he messaged Tarrio: “You know we made this happen.”

Although he is the first Proud Boys member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy, Bertino was not actually present in Washington DC on January 6.

Members of the far-right Proud Boys, including leader Enrique Tarrio (center) and Bertino (center left) are seen at a November 2020 rally in DC

As part of the plea, Bertino also pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful possession of firearms, a charge that arose from a March 2022 search of his home 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 the sentencing guidelines for Bertino’s case recommend a prison term ranging from four years and three months to five years and three months.

Trial begins in December against Tarrio and four other members accused of seditious conspiracy: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.

Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was president of the Proud Boys chapter and a member of the group’s national “Elders Council.”

Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, is a self-described Proud Boys organizer. Rehl was president of the Proud Boys Division in Philadelphia. Pezzola is a Proud Boys member from Rochester, New York.

The indictment document for Bertino’s case lists those five defendants and a sixth Proud Boys member as his co-conspirators.

Proud Boys members describe the group as a politically incorrect men’s club for ‘western chauvinists’. Organizer Joe Biggs, in green hat, and Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, megaphone in hand, march in Portland in 2019

Tarrio’s case is one of the toughest charges in the attack, which sent lawmakers fleeing, leaving dozens of officers bloodied and bruised.

The charges in Tarrio’s case allege that the Proud Boys held meetings and communicated via encrypted messages to plan the attack in the days leading up to January 6.

On the day of the riots, authorities said the Proud Boys dismantled metal barricades set up to protect the Capitol and mobilize, direct and direct members of the mob into the building.

Video testimony from Bertino was seen in June during the first hearing of the House committee investigating Jan. 6.

The committee showed a clip of Bertino saying the group’s membership “probably tripled” after Trump’s comment during a presidential debate that the Proud Boys should “sit back and stand by.”

Police arrested Tarrio two days before the Washington riots and charged him with vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic black church during a December 2020 protest.

Tarrio was released from prison on January 14 this year after serving his five-month sentence for that case.

More than three dozen people accused of the Capitol riots have been identified by federal authorities as leaders, members or associates of the Proud Boys.

Two — Matthew Greene and Charles Donohoe — pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote.

Proud Boys members describe the group as a politically incorrect men’s club for ‘western chauvinists’.

They have fought Antifa at rallies and protests. Gavin McInnes, co-founder of Vice Media, which founded the Proud Boys in 2016, sued the Southern Poverty Law Center for labeling it a hate group.