Five alleged members of 'B Squad' militia group charged in Capitol tunnel attack
Earlier DU thread: Feds Arrest Five Members Of 'B Squad' Militia In Jan. 6 Case (MSNBC)
Also: Five Florida Men Arrested on Charges for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach (U.S. Attorney's Office - District of Colombia)
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Source: WUSA-TV
Five alleged members of 'B Squad' militia group charged in Capitol tunnel attack
Prosecutors say the defendants are all part of a Three Percenters group that traveled from Florida to D.C. ahead of Jan. 6.
Author: Jordan Fischer
Published: 2:07 PM EDT August 24, 2022
Updated: 4:08 PM EDT August 24, 2022
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint Wednesday charging five alleged members of a Three Percenters militia group known as “B Squad” in connection with the assault on the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
Only one of the defendants – Brian Preller, a Florida resident who was taken into custody in Vermont this week – is named in the redacted complaint. According to the filing, however, the charged defendants include the leader of the B Squad, which investigators say is a subgroup of a Three Percenters group called “Guardians of Freedom,” and four others who traveled with him from Florida to D.C. ahead of Jan. 6. In a footnote in the complaint, investigators said they believe the B Squad name refers to “an alternate plan to be in place if they do not get the desire electoral outcome (i.e., the former president remaining in power).”
According to the complaint, as many as 40 members of B Squad stayed on the same floor of a D.C. hotel. In a video posted to Facebook on Jan. 3, investigators say the group’s leader described “defensive tools” members could bring to D.C., including “the strongest pepper spray commercially available to use,” extendable metal batons, knives and Tasers. The group’s leader also reportedly told members, “We are going to have four more years of Trump, we all know that,” and warned about the possibility of violence due to “communist agitators like Black Lives Matter and Antifa.”
Investigators say members of B Squad wore riot gear and carried weapons, including metal batons, pepper spray and knives, when they joined other members of the mob outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. There, they allegedly joined at least one attempt by rioters to force their way through the line of police attempting to hold the Lower West Terrace Tunnel near the Inaugural Stage.
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Read more: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/five-alleged-members-of-b-squad-militia-group-charged-in-capitol-tunnel-attack-brian-preller-three-percenters-oath-keepers-florida-flagler-county/65-96bcc53e-fe39-4b10-80bd-7990dd3dcbf2
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Source: U.S. Attorney's Office - District of Columbia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Five Florida Men Arrested on Charges for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach
Defendants Were Allegedly Affiliated With a Militia Group, Were Among Rioters on Lower West Terrace
WASHINGTON — Five Florida men, all self-identified militia members, were arrested today on charges stemming from their actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.
Four of the defendants -- Benjamin Cole, 38, of Leesburg, John Edward Crowley, 50, of Windermere, Brian Preller, 33, of Mount Dora, and Jonathan Rockholt, 38, of Palm Coast, Florida – are charged with the felony offense of interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder. Along with a fifth defendant -- Tyler Bensch, 20, of Casselberry – they also are charged with the misdemeanor offenses of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.
Crowley, Rockholt, and Bensch were arrested in Florida and are making their initial court appearances today in the Middle District of Florida. Cole, who was arrested in Louisville, is making his initial court appearance in the Western District of Kentucky. Preller, who was arrested in Rutledge, Vermont, is making his appearance in the District of Vermont.
According to court documents, the five men self-identified as members of the “B Squad,” a subgroup of a militia-style, Florida based organization known as the “Guardians of Freedom,” which adheres to the ideology of the “Three Percenters.” They traveled to Washington, D.C., with others in the “B Squad” and stayed at a hotel on Jan. 5, 2021. On Jan. 6, the five defendants were among those illegally gathered on the Capitol grounds. Cole wore a tactical vest. Preller wore a tactical vest with a chemical irritant spray attached to the front, as well as large goggles and a green helmet with the word “monster” on the back. He also carried a long black walking stick and wore a shirt that read “waterboarding instructor.” Rockholt wore a tactical vest and carried what appeared to be a knife in his front right pocket; he also wore a baseball helmet. Bensch wore a tactical vest, as well as a military-style helmet with goggles and a black gas mask. He also carried a chemical irritant in front of the vest.
Cole, Crowley, Preller and Rockholt were in a group that engaged in a confrontation with law enforcement officers in the tunnel area of the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. Bensch remained just outside. While inside the tunnel, Cole, Preller, Crowley and Rockholt confronted and assisted the crowd in confronting the officers that were preventing the tunnel and Capitol from being breached. They added their force, momentum, bodies, and efforts to the other rioters in a “heave-ho” effort that put pressure on the police line. As a direct result of the actions of the rioters in the tunnel at that time, the mob penetrated deeper, pushing the police line back.
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Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/five-florida-men-arrested-charges-actions-during-jan-6-capitol-breach
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