Purported founder of OC supremacist group pleads guilty to riot-related charge
The purported founder of a Southern California-based militant supremacist group that was at the center of outbreaks of violence at local political rallies pleaded guilty on Friday, Sept. 13, to conspiracy to riot.
Robert Rundo, a former Huntington Beach resident and accused founder and leader of the Rise Above Movement, now faces up to five years in federal prison.
Prosecutors in the plea deal agreed to seek no more than two years in prison, but the ultimate decision on how much time Rundo, 34, will spend behind bars rests with a federal judge.
On Friday, Rundo stood with his hands clasped behind his back next to his attorney at a federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. He stared downward as a prosecutor read what Rundo was admitting to, including that he and other Rise Above Movement leaders recruited, trained and fought alongside members as they attacked political rivals at rallies in Orange County, San Bernardino and Northern California in 2017.
Rise Above Movement members attended training sessions, including in San Clemente, to prepare to violently confront counter protestors.
"This defendant sought to incite riots to promote a white-supremacist agenda and impede the constitutional rights of others," U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement.
Rundo admitted to attacking and assaulting opposing protestors during a March 2017 rally in Huntington Beach , an April 2017 rally in Berkeley, and a June 2017 rally in San Bernardino.
The group celebrated and bragged about its actions in a variety of social-media platforms, according to the plea deal, including putting out statements reading "#rightwingdeathsquad," "#goodnightleftside" and "antifa was btfo (blown the (expletive) out) in Huntington Beach."
"Mr. Rundo's cowardly and unprovoked acts of violence were unjustly carried out upon his victims, leaving those who were victimized, their families, and our community torn by hate," Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement.
Cormac J. Carney, a since-retired federal judge who previously presided over Rundo's case drew headlines earlier this year by throwing out the charges Rundo was facing and ordering his release .
Carney accused federal prosecutors of targeting Rundo and other suspected "far-right, white supremacist nationalists," while ignoring the actions of "antifa and other extremist, far-left groups." The then-judge accused left-wing protestors of being responsible for the outbreaks of violence that prosecutors blamed on the Rise Above Movement.
Carney's rulings were reversed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which blocked Rundo's release and reinstated the criminal charges. The appellate judges wrote that Rise Above Movement leaders "behaved like leaders of an organized crime group" and repeated violent conduct at rallies.
Prior to his arrest on the federal charges, Rundo traveled to meet with white supremacist groups in Ukraine, Germany and Romania, prosecutors previously said. At various times, Rundo also allegedly attempted to avoid capture by fleeing to Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador and Romania.
Rundo was scheduled for a Dec. 13 sentencing.
Rundo wasn't the only alleged Rise Above Movement member to face criminal charges.
Tyler Laube, a 28-year-old Redondo Beach resident, pleaded guilty to interfering with a federally protected right and was fined $2,000 and sentenced to time already served while awaiting trial . Robert Boman, a 31-year-old Torrance resident, is awaiting trial on rioting-related charges.
