Proud far right leader Boys was sentenced to more than five months in prison on Monday after admitting that he burned a Black Lives Matter banner from a historic black church in Washington during a demonstration in support of Trump in December.
Henry Tarrio. known to his followers as Enrique, was arrested on January 4 in Washington DC in connection with the December 12 incident. The Proud Boys and other groups staged a loud rally in the city center. The banner was stolen from Asbury United Methodist Church, one of the oldest black churches in Washington.
Tarrio, 37, from Miami, also pleaded guilty to attempting to own a large firearms store, which is illegal in Washington. Investigators said the man had the shops with him when he returned to town on January 6 to protest against the electoral vote count in Congress.
The maximum sentence on both charges was imprisonment for up to six months.
Federal prosecutors have recommended sentencing Tarrio to 90 days in prison, followed by a three-month probation and an order barring him from returning to Washington. They said his burning of the poster “had a deep emotional and psychological impact on the church and its members,” and that he openly bragged about it, saying on social media, “I'm damn proud of what I did!”
Tarrio told the judge on Monday that he made a “serious mistake” when he burned the banner.
“I deeply apologize. I didn’t realize the consequences of what I did. ”
Supreme Court Justice Harold Kuschenberg noted that Tarrio“ did not express authentically sincere remorse, ”and sentenced him to a total of 155 days in prison.
Tarrio is due to surrender to the Washington DC prison on September 6.
