Three alleged white supremacists have been arrested and authorities are looking for another in connection to violent attacks against a police officer, journalists and counter protesters.
The four men are all believed to be members of a group that a U.S. Attorney’s office in California calls a “white supremacy extremist group” named “Rise Above Movement,” according to the criminal complaint.
The latest arrests over the last few days come weeks after other alleged members of the same group were named and faced federal charges in connection to violence at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.
The three men that were announced as being in custody on Wednesday were identified as Robert Rundo, 28, of Huntington Beach, Robert Boman, 25, of Torrance, and Tyler Laube, 22, of Redondo Beach, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The fourth, who is still at large, is Aaron Eason, 38, who resides in the Riverside County community of Anza, the release stated.
They all face federal charges of violating conspiracy and rioting statutes, court documents stated.
“Rundo, Boman, Laube, and Eason, along with other RAM members, have used the internet to prepare to incite and participate in violence at various political events, have committed violent assaults while at those events, and have applauded each other for it and publicly documented their assaults in order to recruit more members to engage in further assaults,” the criminal complaint alleged.
The complaint lists several specific rallies that the individuals attended in California where they allegedly attacked either journalists, an individual Berkeley police officers described as a “defenseless person,” or others including a police officer.
The rallies included a “Make America Great Rally” in Huntington Beach in March 2017 and an “Anti-Islamic Law” rally in San Bernardino in June 2017, documents said.
Rundo was arrested at the Los Angeles Airport on Sunday, arraigned Wednesday and detained pending trial, according to ABC station KABC. He was charged with conspiracy and rioting.
The status of Boman and Laube was not immediately known.
Beyond allegedly belonging to the same group, there’s another stated connection between one of the newly charged individuals and two of the men that were charged earlier this month.
According to the criminal complaint, Rundo and two of the four men who were charged in the Charlottesville case — Benjamin Drake Daley and Michael Miselis — “traveled to Germany, Ukraine, and Italy to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday to meet with members of European white supremacy extremist groups,” in the spring of 2018.
The criminal complaint also cites the text and Facebook messages of members of the Rise Above Movement, staying that even after the Charlottesville rally, “RAM members continued to engage in regular combat training sessions and post photographs and videos on social media promoting their assaults at prior rallies.”
It is unclear if the 3 suspects in custody have been assigned or retained attorneys.
