DOJ Press release

[AndyS]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Leader of Oath Keepers and 10 Other Individuals Indicted in Federal Court for Seditious Conspiracy and Other Offenses Related to U.S. Capitol Breach
Eight Others Facing Charges in Two Related Cases
A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment yesterday, which was unsealed today, charging 11 defendants with seditious conspiracy and other charges for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

According to court documents, Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, 56, of Granbury, Texas, who is the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers; and Edward Vallejo, 63, of Phoenix, Arizona, are being charged for the first time in connection with events leading up to and including Jan. 6. Rhodes was arrested this morning in Little Elm, Texas, and Vallejo was arrested this morning in Phoenix.

In addition to Rhodes and Vallejo, those named in the indictment include nine previously charged defendants: Thomas Caldwell, 67, of Berryville, Virginia; Joseph Hackett, 51, of Sarasota, Florida; Kenneth Harrelson, 41, of Titusville, Florida; Joshua James, 34, of Arab, Alabama; Kelly Meggs, 52, of Dunnellon, Florida; Roberto Minuta, 37, of Prosper, Texas; David Moerschel, 44, of Punta Gorda, Florida; Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Georgia and Jessica Watkins, 39, of Woodstock, Ohio. In addition to the earlier charges filed against them, they now face additional counts for seditious conspiracy and other offenses.

Eight other individuals affiliated with the Oath Keepers, all previously charged in the investigation, remain as defendants in two related cases. All defendants – except Rhodes and Vallejo – previously were charged in a superseding indictment. The superseding indictment has now effectively been split into three parts: the 11-defendant seditious conspiracy case, a seven-defendant original case, and a third case against one of the previously charged defendants.

[WarGamer]

1. I predicted this is the highest level they're going to achieve.

Clearly small groups of 3%'ers, PB's and OK'ers conspired/coordinated with each other and planned to break into the Capitol and Lord knows what else.

If found guilty... we might see the harshest sentences here.

[Fiendish Thingy]

14. Many of these defendants were already facing 20+ years for Obstruction

These leaders have links to Alex Jones and Roger Stone, who have direct links to Trump and the coup architects.

Somebody is going to flip. There are 8-10 lower level militia members who already have cooperation agreements with DOJ.

The vice is tightening…

[Historic NY]

15. Them older fucks will be singing.............

glad to see they got Minuta he has a tattoo place in Newburgh NY...

Its been decorated a few times.

[C Moon]

28. It's mostly a bunch of angry middle-aged white men. nt

[Historic NY]

31. Getting locked up not being able to shoot their guns and play with their buddies

and the especially their families will be what makes the difference. When asked where grandpa is and the answer is 20yrs in the Pen for trying to overthrown the elected President, that will make them think.

[ProfessorGAC]

32. Six Are 44 Or Younger

That's more than half.
44 or less is middle aged? I think not.
Admittedly, 10 of the 11 are men.
And, angry goes without saying.

[Kingofalldems]

18. Nope.

[WarGamer]

30. Nope, what?

[Sherman A1]

24. Believe it when I see it

not before.

[Ohio Joe]

2. Building cases from the bottom up...

It gives a good foundation. The DOJ has an amazingly high conviction rate because they bring cases they can prove in court... And now Seditious Conspiracy cases are being brought... And up the chain they will keep going.

Good news

[PortTack]

5. Yes... really good news! When the feds come for you...know they already have the goods

There will be no wiggling out of it

[dclarston13]

10. Canaries will sing

These guys got their money to operate from someone that person got theirs from someone else. When these folks talk we will see some more arrests. My guess is that much of the money used to fund the insurrection came from the missing inauguration funds.

[Ohio Joe]

11. Yup, always follow the money...

It always has an interesting story to tell.

[malaise]

3. K & R

Lock them up!

[AZSkiffyGeek]

6. Edward Vallejo of Phoenix Arizona..

There's ALWAYS an Arizona connection.

[Budi]

8. And always good old Texas! 🤬👎

[mtngirl47]

23. And several Florida men! n/t

[Budi]

7. Penalty for Seditious Conspiracy

This is from Wiki, there may be additoinal details on current law books.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seditious_conspiracy

Seditious conspiracy is a conspiracy to commit sedition. It is a federal crime in the United States per 18 U.S.C. § 2384:

"If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both."
(Tell me what part of this definition did they NOT do!) 🤨

For a seditious conspiracy charge to be effected, a crime need only be planned, it need not be actually attempted.

According to Andres Torres and Jose E. Velazquez, the accusation of seditious conspiracy is of political nature and was used almost exclusively against Puerto Rican independentistas in the twentieth century.[1] However, the act was also used in the twentieth century against communists (United Freedom Front),[2] neo-Nazis,[3] and terrorists such as the Provisional IRA in Massachusetts and Omar Abdel-Rahman.[4]

[Fiendish Thingy]

22. Marcy Wheeler says with terrorism sentencing enhancements, they could face up to 80 years. Nt

[Budi]

34. I sincerely hope they are sentenced to all 80 years.

They should never know a free day again.

[Fiendish Thingy]

35. Unless...they flip and enable the prosecutions of Jones, Stone and the coup architects. Nt

Then I’d be cool with letting them off with 50 years…

[gratuitous]

9. A salutary development

The latest excuse from Wingnuttia is that the failed insurrection of January 6 can't possibly be insurrection or sedition because nobody's been charged with those crimes. These indictments should end (or at least curtail) that bogus talking point.

[lagomorph777]

12. Starting to get real.

[HAB911]

13. Keep going up the chain................

[Lucky Luciano]

16. 20 years with Chapo in Florence please!

[liberalla]

17. Yes! Woo Hoo!

Now let's see what thunder and tremors this produces.

[KS Toronado]

19. Can we now stop with Merrick Garland isn't doing anything?

[crickets]

20. This news brightens the day considerably! Here's hoping it's just the beginning. nt

[CaliforniaPeggy]

25. A great big K&R! ♥

[jaxexpat]

26. In the United States of crazy presidential pardons......

convictions don't carry much weight. I doubt any of these creatures have so much as an elevated heart rate because of a little indictment.

However, a little Gitmo style hospitality would have these yahoos singing before they touch Cuban soil. Where do we put traitors of notoriety anyhow? I hear the Tortugas are hot and dry. Perfect for an all over tan, even through the orange jumpers.

[AverageOldGuy]

27. Too bad . . .

. . . that the penalty for sedition is 20 years in the slammer. I was hoping for a firing squad.

[Farmer-Rick]

36. Didn't TFG reinstitute the federal death penalty????

Maybe it could be used on them..........

[Hekate]

29. KnR

[Scrivener7]

33. Nice! Great news!