Zach Rehl, head of the Philadelphia chapter of the Proud Boys, could spend three decades in federal prison if prosecutors get their way later this month at his sentencing hearing
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Philly Proud Boys president Zachary Rehl, left, and Ethan Nordean, a regional leader of the organization, march toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump, on Jan. 6, 2021. Carolyn Kaster / AP
By Jeremy Roebuck, Philadelphia Inquirer
The role that Rehl and three other leaders of the neofascist organization played in organizing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol “threatened the bedrock principles of our country” and warranted the significant punishment, government lawyers argued in a court filing late Thursday.
Their recommendation of 30 years is considerably more than that of the most serious prison sentence imposed so far against a participant in the Capitol siege — the 18-year term given in May to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes.
Proud Boy on house arrest in Jan. 6 case disappears ahead of sentencing
“These defendants and the men in their command saw themselves as the foot soldiers of the right — they were prepared to use, and they did use, force to stop the ‘traitors’ from stealing the election,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason B.A. McCullough and Conor Mulroe wrote of Rehl and his codefendants. “They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals.”
Like Rhodes, Rehl, 37, of Port Richmond, and three codefendants — Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys national chairman; and regional leaders Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs — were convicted by a federal jury on seditious conspiracy charges, the most serious count levied against any of the more than 1,000 charged participants in the Jan. 6 riot and one that carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
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