Four members of the ‘Three Percenters’ were sentenced to prison for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. (Photo of Ronald Mele, inset, from Law&Crime file via GiveSendGo; Photo of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at a police barrier at the Capitol is AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Four knife-carrying ‘Three Percenters’ in tactical gear who bragged about storming the Capitol were sentenced to prison for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Erik Scott Warner, 48, was sentenced to 27 months; Felipe Antonio Martinez, 50, was sentenced to 21 months. Derek Kinnison, 42, was sentenced to 33 months; Ronald Mele, 54, was sentenced to 33 months. Each was ordered to pay $2,000 restitution and complete 36 months of supervised release.
They were convicted of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstruction of an official proceeding, both felony offenses. Warner and Kinnison were also convicted of tampering with documents or records, a felony. In addition to the felony convictions, they were found guilty of misdemeanor offenses of trespassing and disorderly conduct.
“Mr. Kinnison is a patriotic citizen who wanted to show his support for President Trump, who he believed was the rightful winner of the 2020 election,” said Kinnison’s lawyer, Nicolai Cocis, said after the conviction, The Associated Press reported. “He regrets his involvement in the events of January 6.”
Authorities said the men were a part of the “Three Percenters,” an extremist group that takes its name from the erroneous belief that is the fraction of colonists who overthrew the British during the American Revolution.
Through a Telegram chat called “The California Patriots — DC Brigade,” they planned their trip to Washington to obstruct Congress’ certification of certification of Joe Biden’s victory. They drove across the country, authorities said. After former President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally that day, the men marched on the Capitol.
“This is the storm of the Capitol,” Kinnison said as the group moved through the crowd, officials said.
Confronting a line of officers, Warner, carrying bear spray and a flagpole, called out for the rioters to “hold the line” as Martinez, Kinnison, and Mele advanced against a police line on the northwest lawn, prosecutors said.
“Push! Push! Push!” Mele called out for the crowd as the officers on the lawn were surrounded, assaulted, and forced to retreat, authorities said.
At 2:13 p.m., Warner broke into the Capitol building through a smashed window. When Martinez, Kinnison, and Mele learned that he had made it in, they went to join him, officials said.
On the way, Mele shot a selfie video, saying, “Storm the Capitol!” before he and his group — in tactical gear and carrying knives and cans of bear spray — got inside the building, prosecutors said. The men were arrested on June 10, 2021.
Law&Crime reported in 2022 that Mele had asked a federal judge for permission to move to Texas because employers there were “more sympathetic” to the charges he was facing in the Jan. 6 siege. His co-defendant included Alan Hostetter, a cop-turned-yoga instructor who said in late November 2021 that “traitors need to be executed.” He was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for his role in the riots.
In the 39 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,387 people have been charged in the Capitol breach, including nearly 500 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony, officials said.
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