The purported founder of a Southern California-based militant supremacist group has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to riot in a criminal case that drew controversy after a federal judge questioned whether the alleged right-wing extremist was being treated more harshly than members of far-left groups.
Robert Rundo, a Huntington Beach resident and alleged founder of the Rise Above Movement, has agreed to a plea deal in which federal prosecutors will seek no more than two years of prison time, court records show.
The agreement comes weeks after an appellate court overruled an effort by a lower-court judge to toss out Rundo’s criminal case.
Rundo and other alleged Rise Above Movement leaders are accused of recruiting, training and fighting alongside members to attack political rivals at rallies in Orange County, San Bernardino and Northern California.
In Rundo’s written plea deal, the Rise Above Movement is described as “a fighting group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement” whose members attended political rallies “with the intent to provoke and engage in violent physical conflicts.”
According to the plea deal, Rundo and other Rise Above Movement leaders held “fighting training sessions” — including in-person training in San Clemente — to prepare members to violently confront counter protesters.
The alleged members of the group also posted messages and photographs of them “preparing for or engaging in violence” on a variety of social media platforms, along with statements such as “When the squad(‘)s not out smashing commies,” “#rightwingdeathsquad,” and “#goodnightleftside.”
During a March 2017 rally in Huntington Beach, Rundo and other alleged Rise Above Movement members “pursued and assaulted” opposing protesters, including tackling and punching one protester multiple times, according to the plea deal.
After the Huntington Beach rally, Rundo and others “posted photographs and videos celebrating the assaults, including an image Rundo posted on Twitter with the message “Shortly after this pic antifa was btfo (blown the (expletive) out) in Huntington Beach,” according to the plea deal.
The plea deal also documents Rundo being involved in similar assaults — followed by online bragging — in April 2017 in Berkeley and in June 2017 in San Bernardino.
Federal prosecutors have alleged in previous court filings that Rundo at one point traveled to Ukraine, Germany and Italy in order to meet with members of other white supremacist groups.
Rundo at various times has also attempted to avoid capture by fleeing to Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador and Romania, prosecutors have alleged.
Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney threw out the charges Rundo was facing and ordered his immediate release.
The veteran federal court judge accused prosecutors of selectively prosecuting Rundo and other suspected “far-right, white supremacist nationalists” while ignoring the actions of members of “Antifa and other extremist, far-left groups.”
Carney later went further in accusing far-left protestors of being responsible for the outbreak of violence that prosecutors had blamed on the Rise Above Movement.
Appellate judges with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Rundo’s release and later overruled Carney’s decision to throw out Rundo’s criminal charges.
The appellate judges wrote that in referencing “Antifa and far-left groups,” Judge Carney was comparing “apples to oranges,” since individual Rise Above Members leaders “repeated their conduct at other rallies” and “behaved like leaders of an organized crime group.”
Judge Carney — who recently retired — is no longer involved in Rundo’s case. It has been re-assigned from Carney’s former courtroom at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana to U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton.
Rundo is scheduled to appear in Staton’s courtroom in Downtown Los Angeles for a change of plea hearing on Friday, Sept. 13.
Since he already has spent months in federal custody awaiting trial, it isn’t clear how much additional time Rundo will have to spend in lockup following his eventual sentencing. The plea deal states that prosecutors will also not seek more than two years of supervised release once Rundo is out of custody.
Related Articles
Inside the investigation of a Colorado scientist’s years of misconduct: ‘God forbid we have someone in prison that shouldn’t be’
Woofy Acres dog rescue under criminal investigation, 114 dogs seized by San Bernardino County
Suspect sought after five people shot, wounded in Kentucky
School shooting draws unwanted attention to Georgia on campaign trail
January 6 crimes did happen. Court cases, video and thousands of pages of evidence prove it
Leave a Reply