Proud Boy ‘elder’ and second MAGA activist plead guilty in Jan. 6 Capitol attack
The founder of the Hawaii chapter of the Proud Boys along with a second MAGA loyalist each pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge in connection to the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Department said.
Nicholas Ochs, 36, of Honolulu, and Nicholas DeCarlo, 32, of Fort Worth, Texas, entered their pleas in Washington, D.C. federal court to charges of obstruction of an official proceeding.
Ochs is an “elder” with the Proud Boys, court papers state. The Anti-Defamation League calls the Proud Boys a “right-wing extremist group with a violent agenda.”
During the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol, Nicholas Ochs, left, and Nicholas DeCarlo pose in front of a door upon which the name of their right-wing online streaming outlet, Murder the Media, is scratched.
Ochs traveled from Honolulu to a Virginia hotel on Jan. 5, where he met-up with DeCarlo, who had arrived from Texas to witness former president Donald Trump’s next-day rally to challenge the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
After attending Trump’s pep talk, the pair went to the Capitol and hurled smoke bombs at law enforcement officers protecting elected officials certifying President Biden’s electoral victory.
“They then climbed the stairs to the Upper West Terrace,” the Justice Department reports. “At approximately 2:23 p.m., Ochs and DeCarlo illegally entered the Capitol through the Senate Wing Doors.
“They moved through the Crypt (where they filmed themselves smoking cigarettes), Capitol Visitor’s Center, East Foyer, Statuary Hall, and the Rotunda before exiting at 3 p.m.”
FILE - Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump breach the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (John Minchillo/)
Using a magic marker, DeCarlo wrote the words “Murder the Media” on a door in the Capitol, the feds said.
He copped to vandalizing the doorway, which led to an office named for a pair of slain Capitol Hill police officers.
“We’re all felons!” DeCarlo reportedly declared on the Capitol grounds.
Inside the building, he was heard calling out for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
When asked about his level of education, DeCarlo told D.C. federal Judge Beryl Howell he’d “finished high school,” but soon after confessed he’d quit the 11th grade, Law & Crime reports.
Trump’s Big Lie was plucked from countless smaller ones
Ochs and DeCarlo were also accused of rummaging through a duffel bag belonging to a Capitol Police officer and made-off with a pair of handcuffs. After leaving the Capitol, prosecutors said Ochs was seen on video apologizing for not having recording live when insurgents “made Congress flee.”
Ochs was arrested the day after the attack on the capitol in Hawaii. DeCarlo was apprehended in Texas fewer than three weeks later.
Ochs and DeCarlo each face up to to 20 years behind bars when they’re sentenced on Dec. 9, though Law & Crime says their plea agreement will likely result in a sentence of roughly four years behind bars.
They also agreed to pay $2,000 in restitution. The Capitol endured nearly $3 million in damage during the insurrection attempt.
In the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, then-President Donald Trump falsely insisted the election had been stolen from him and boasted the rally to resist certification “will be wild.”
The DOJ’s investigation of the assault on the Capitol remains open. More than 870 arrests have been made.
