Leader of California white supremacist group gets two years in prison
LOS ANGELES — The leader of a white supremacist group in Southern California was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for inciting violence at political rallies in California in 2017.
Robert Paul Rundo, 34, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said.
“Hate and violence are antithetical to American values and are tearing our community apart. It is therefore critical that we protect the civil and constitutional rights of our community from those who promote division,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement.
Rundo’s attorney did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Prosecutors say Rundo co-founded the Rise Above Movement, which they describe as “a combat-ready, militant group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement.” He and two others were accused of planning and committing violence at rallies in Huntington Beach, Berkeley and San Bernardino in 2017.
Rundo was arrested in 2018 for inciting violence at protests in California and a deadly riot in Charlottesville, Virginia. A federal court dismissed the suit in 2019, but that’s not the case were restored by a federal appeals court in 2021.
Rundo had left the United States after the charges were dismissed and so he did extradited last year from Romania when they were recovered.