SEATTLE (AP) — A man who describes himself as the “Sergeant of Arms” of a chapter of the far-right group Proud Boys was charged in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol last month.
Ethan Nordean, who is also known as Rufio Panman, 30, was charged with obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, aiding and abetting and knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building. Authorities say he is a self-proclaimed “Sergeant of Arms” of the Seattle chapter of the Proud Boys.
He is at least the eighth member of the Proud Boys to be charged by the Justice Department after thousands of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was meeting to vote to certify Joe Biden’s presidential win.
Nordean was expected to make an initial appearance in federal court in Seattle on Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors said Nordean had been posting before the riot about plans to organize a group and posted a video with a caption reading, “Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us.” He also posted videos speaking with other Proud Boys members about what he described as “blatant, rampant voter fraud,” according to prosecutors.
Authorities allege that Nordean told others that they should not be complacent and that the Proud Boys were going to “bring back that original spirit of 1776 of what really established the character of what America is.” Later in the video, prosecutors say Nordean said, “Democracy is dead? Well, then no peace for you. No democracy, no peace.”
“It is apparent now more than ever, that if you are a patriot, you will be targeted and they will come after you, funny thing is that they don’t realize is, is we are coming for them,” he said, according to prosecutors. “You’ve chosen your side, black and yellow teamed with red, white and blue against everyone else.”
Nordean was marching at the front of a group of Proud Boys shortly before the riot began before he broke into the Capitol building with other members of the group. They charge that Nordean was near the front of the crowd of rioters and then confronted the vastly outnumbered Capitol Police officers.
Two days after the riot, he posted a photo of a Capitol Police officer firing pepper spray with a caption reading, ““If you feel bad for the police, you are part of the problem…”
The most serious of the charges carries up to 20 years in prison.
