Convicted Jan 6 rioter sent plans for Oregon insurrection: DOJ
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A Vancouver man, and a member of the right-wing "Proud Boys" organization, was found guilty of seven charges related to the January 6 Capitol riot on Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced.
Following his March arrest in Vancouver, 42-year-old Marc Anthony Bru was found guilty in a Washington D.C. court on two felonies, including obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder.
Bru was also found guilty of five misdemeanors including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; entering and remaining in a gallery of Congress; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Bru marched with a group of about 20 other members of the Proud Boys to the U.S. Capitol and "trampled over" and downed barricades at the Peace Circle, officials said.
The DOJ said Bru entered the Capitol’s West Plaza and angrily confronted police, who were wearing riot gear and were trying to keep the mob at bay. Officers tried using a bike rack to move rioters backward, but officials said Bru grabbed one of the racks and used his body weight to prevent police from moving forward. Officials said he also dodged a chemical irritant spray from an officer.
“Later, despite the blaring alarm, Bru entered the Capitol through an emergency exit and made his way to the recently evacuated Senate chamber, where he took celebratory pictures in the gallery,” the DOJ said.
Seven weeks after the riot, Bru sent an encrypted message to “an aspiring ‘Proud Boy’” with detailed plans to conduct an armed insurrection against the Oregon state government, similar to the January 6 Capitol riot, the DOJ said.
Bru is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 8, 2024.
According to the DOJ, in the 32 months since the Jan. 6 riot, over 1,100 people have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach.