'A place to fund hope': How Proud Boys and other fringe groups found refuge on a Christian...
A place to fund hope: How Proud Boys and other fringe groups found refuge on a Christian fundraising website
By Amy Brittain and David Willman
Jan. 18, 2021 at 10:02 a.m. EST
Henry Enrique Tarrio had already publicized his plans to participate in the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally. The 36-year-old Miami resident and national chairman of the Proud Boys posted on social media that he would direct small teams of his far-right group with a history of violence to wear black and fan out across Washington.
But when he arrived in D.C. on Jan. 4 ahead of the scheduled demonstrations, he said, 15 cop cars swarmed his Honda Crosstour soon after he passed through the Third Street Tunnel. Tarrio was wanted on a misdemeanor charge from December accusing him of setting fire to a historic Black churchs Black Lives Matter banner.
During the traffic stop, authorities found high-capacity firearm magazines in his backpack, resulting in felony weapons charges, according to court records. And as he sat in a jail cell for 24 hours, Tarrio said, he thought about how he would need a lot of money to get out of this mess. Good lawyers, he said, dont come cheap.
He said family members had the idea to monetize the support of his online followers through GiveSendGo.com, a niche Christian fundraising website that bills itself as a place to fund hope. Within a week, the Enrique Tarrio Defense Fund had amassed more than $113,000 from 2,359 donors, according to the site. Tarrio has pleaded not guilty.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/a-place-to-fund-hope-how-proud-boys-and-other-fringe-groups-found-refuge-on-a-christian-fundraising-website/2021/01/18/14a536ee-574b-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html