The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested the leader and two members of a white supremacist group for inciting violence in Charlottesville and California in 2017, AP reported on Wednesday.
The US Attorney’s Office spokesperson Thom Mrozek said Rise Above Movement leader Robert Rundo was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday and members Robert Boman and Tyler Laube were arrested on Wednesday. A fourth suspect, Aaron Eason, is still absconding. All four have been charged with travelling to incite or participate in riots.
Rundo was returning from a Central American country that he had fled to.
The FBI, in its affidavit, said the group’s members “violently attacked and assaulted counter-protesters” at events in Charlottesville and in the California cities of Huntington Beach, Berkeley and San Bernardino.
US prosecutors said the Rise Above Movement holds anti-Semitic and other racist views. Its members purportedly meet to train in fighting techniques because they believe they are up against a “modern world” corrupted by the “destructive cultural influences” of liberals, Jews, Muslims and non-white immigrants.
The arrests follow the indictments of four other group members who are accused of inciting violence at the Charlottesville rally in August 12, 2017, that turned violent and led to death of a woman.
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