Background: Jeffrey Reed, circled, on Jan. 6. Inset: Reed’s tattoo representing his membership of the Three Percenters group. (DOJ).
A Proud Boys member and Three Percenter will go to prison for the next two-and-a-half years for fighting with cops and breaking into the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot.
Jeffrey David Reed, 49, of Texas, will also be on probation for two years following his release and must pay a $2,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a press release. During a bench trial, U.S. District Chief Judge James E. Boasberg found Reed guilty of a felony offense of civil disorder and misdemeanor offenses of entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
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At the time of the riot, Reed lived in upstate New York and was a member of the Proud Boys’ Hudson Valley chapter in New York. Prosecutors said the day before the breach, Proud Boys president Enrique Tarrio added Reed to the “Boots on the Ground” text message group that included members who were in Washington, D.C., for then-President Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally.
Reed seemed eager for a plan.
“This is so unorganized! Where is our order?” and “No f—ing support so far” and “no f—in plan either,” he texted. Joseph Biggs, another Proud Boys leader, told him the group was not going to plan anything for Jan. 5 and “Tomorrow’s the day,” prosecutors wrote in Reed’s sentencing memorandum. The group met on the morning of Jan. 6 at the Washington Monument to hash out their plans.
Outfitted with a radio, Reed was on the front line of rioters who began shoving metal bike racks out of the way, which allowed the mob to surge forward, putting Capitol police officers in a “precarious” position, cops wrote. Cops kept retreating and forming new lines to stop rioters. But each time Reed and the revelers broke through police.
As Reed approached another police line, he pointed at one of the officer’s faces and shouted “You work for us,” the memo said. The crowd reached another line of bike racks and Reed started wrangling one with a cop.
“In that tug-of-war, Reed aggressively rocked his body back-and-forth as he forcefully yanked the bike rack from a USCP officer’s grip,” prosecutors wrote. “With one final violent pull, Reed ripped the bike rack from the officer’s hands, causing the officer to fall on the ground.”
Reed walked up to another group of officers and called them “f—ing oathbreakers!” At 2:26 p.m., Reed entered the building, walked up to the Rotunda and walked around the building smoking a cigarette. He walked past the House Chamber and the Speaker’s Lobby where just on the other side lawmakers who were trying to certify President Joe Biden’s election win “attempted to evacuate the increasingly dangerous scene.” After about 23 minutes, officers forced Reed and others out of the building.
However, Reed remained on the Capitol steps and ripped up a “Blue Lives Matter” flag as the crowd around him cheered on, prosecutors wrote. He remained on the Capitol grounds for at least another hour.
A federal grand jury indicted Reed in July 2023. He was convicted on all counts.
“On January 6, Reed was determined and aggressive. No matter what barrier he faced, Reed was unrelenting in his efforts to gain access to the Capitol,” prosecutors wrote.
For his part, Reed in his sentencing memo said he was sorry for his actions and would not have attended the rally had he known it would turn violent. He also has since left the Proud Boys but still has the 3 Percenters tattoo on his hand. His attorney said his client has a teenage son with “severe autism” and his “deep dive” for a reason for the diagnosis led him down the wrong path.
“Unfortunately, much of the online discussion on this topic serves as a gateway into much deeper, fringe ‘right-wing’ beliefs and conspiracy theories,” his lawyer wrote. “Mr. Reed was a desperate parent, as parents of children with severe autism often are. He started out as a father who wanted answers for the pain and suffering he saw in his child and couldn’t understand.”
