Philly Anti-Capitalist Philly Anti-authoritarian News

from Mainstream Media

Federal prosecutors Tuesday unsealed charges against three more members of the Philadelphia Proud Boys related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, after agents uncovered photos of the men flashing hate symbols inside a U.S. senator’s office and posing on the steps of the Capitol during the riot.

The three men — Isaiah Giddings, 29, of Philadelphia; Brian Healion, 31, of Upper Darby; and Freedom Vy, 36, of Philadelphia — were arrested Friday, and have been charged in federal court in D.C. with unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Giddings’ attorney did not immediately return a request for comment. It was unclear whether Healion or Vy had obtained lawyers.

The new charges against the Philadelphia Proud Boys members come after prosecutors have pointed to the chapter’s president, Zach Rehl, as having a top-tier leadership role in strategizing the group’s plan of attack on Jan. 6. And it was, in part, a search of Rehl’s phone that led agents to charge the other three.

In a group chat on Jan. 5 — which authorities found on Rehl’s phone after his March arrest — the men swapped information about their blood types and emergency contacts with an unnamed person before carpooling to Washington, court documents say.

According to the charging documents, contact information for Giddings, Healion, and Vy in Rehl’s phone all included the letters “PB,” and other messaging content led investigators to believe the men knew each other, at least in part, due to their affiliation with the Proud Boys. Investigators have described the Proud Boys, a militant nationwide organization whose members were among Donald Trump’s most vocal and violent supporters, as one of the primary instigating forces behind the Capitol attack.

“Im ready my dudes,” Rehl texted the group just before 4 p.m. on the eve of the insurrection.

That evening, hotel records show the four — Rehl, Giddings, Healion, and Vy — checked into the Darcy Hotel, around two miles from the Capitol.

According to court filings, by 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 6, Vy and Healion were snapping selfies in front of the Washington Monument, flashing the “OK” hand gesture, which has been classified by the Anti-Defamation League as a symbol of hate and affiliated with white supremacy.

And after a large mob breached the barriers around the U.S. Capitol around 1 p.m., Rehl, Healion, Giddings, and Vy posed for a group photo on the Upper West Terrace of the building while flashing the “OK” hand signs, according to court records.

Rehl would later post the selfie to his Telegram group chat on Jan. 7, captioned: “Badass pic in DC.”

According to court filings, publicly available images and video depict the men entering the Capitol building. Agents were able to better view the Giddings’ and Vy’s faces when they lowered their neck gaiters on camera, court filings said.

A photo texted to Rehl from Healion shows the four sitting and standing near a desk in the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) during the breach. A photo later published in the New Yorker magazine showed Rehl smoking a cigarette and checking his cell phone in the midst of a mob in Merkley’s office.

Around 11 a.m. on Jan. 7, as the group checked out of their hotel, Giddings texted the unnamed person with an update: “everyone all accounted for all safe […] none of our Philly guys had any PB gear the entire event just plain trump supporters from beginning to end thank for the constant check ups and the law enforcement and news updates.”

Rehl was charged in March in a federal conspiracy case along with three other Proud Boys leaders, and is being held in prison without bail. On Tuesday, Rehl was named in a sweeping lawsuit brought by Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl A. Racine against the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia, seeking costly financial penalties intended to hobble the far-right groups he alleges were at the center of the violence. Rehl is also named in a lawsuit from the Capitol Police that contends Trump conspired with the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and others to commit “bias-motivated acts of terrorism.”

At least 694 people — including more than 60 from Pennsylvania — have been arrested in connection with the Capitol riot.