A Rochester man who has been linked to the white nationalist Proud Boys group may be facing federal terrorism enhancement of criminal charges after prosecutors argued he was a leader in the violent U.S. Capitol riots.
Dominic Pezzola, 43, was arrested January 15th after a widely circulated video appeared to show him allegedly using a shield to break a window and allow pro-Trump insurrectionist rioters into the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.
“He, at that point, was the first to breach the Capitol so well that other rioters could stream through,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson said at a court hearing Wednesday, according to Politico. “His action there at that window allowed scores of people to enter the building before either legislative chamber had been evacuated.”
Among the more than 170 people arrested so far in connection with the riots, Pezzola is one of the first defendants facing a "terrorism enhancement" to criminal charges, prosecutors revealed Wednesday during his arraignment. Pezzola was ordered detained on a number of charges, including conspiracy and assaulting, resisting, or impeding a United Stated Capitol police officer, the Democrat & Chronicle reported.
Earlier this week, the Justice Department also suggested that Ethan Nordean, a Seattle-based Proud Boy, committed terrorism for his role in the January 6th riot.
Kenerson said at Pezzola's arraignment, “He committed multiple crimes of violence and a crime that’s defined as terrorism in that process,” Politico reported.
Pezzola was also specifically named during the Senate hearings in the impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump Wednesday as Democratic lawmakers showed video evidence of the rioters.
“Pezzola came to the Capitol on January 6 with deadly intentions,” said Rep. Stacey Plaskett, one of the Democrats leading the trial.
Pezzola was shown on security camera footage as one of the rioters who pursued Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman through the halls of the building, she said.
“You can see Pezzola in the mob, chase Capitol officer Eugene Goodman through the building,” Plaskett said. “They were out to murder anyone they could get their hands on.”
A former Marine, Pezzola posted on his social media sites a biography that said "’Marine vet / boxer / patriot/ Proud Boy 2nd°.’ Pezzola kept at his home a tactical vest with the Proud Boys logo on it,” court documents say.
Prosecutors also said they found a thumb drive in his New York home that included recipes for explosives and poison.
Pezzola’s defense lawyer Jonathan Zucker said in court filings Wednesday Pezzola was acting “out of the delusional belief that he was a “patriot” protecting his country” and went to the Capitol “responding to the entreaties of the then commander in chief, President Trump.”
Zucker said there’s no evidence to show Pezzola injured anyone and that “being at the front of a line does not make you a leader." Further, the thumb drive's existence didn't indicate whether Pezzola even opened it, Zucker added.
Pezzola’s request for house arrest was denied by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather, in part because, as Politico put it, “she said she was troubled by the government’s assertions that an informant said Pezzola was part of a group that agreed to return to Washington to cause more trouble, potentially by killing officials."
His co-defendant in the case, William Pepe of Beacon, also pleaded not guilty Tuesday and was released on his own recognizance, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. Pepe, 31, who is currently suspended without pay from his job at the MTA, was charged with several counts including conspiracy but not with federal terrorism.
Pepe and Pezzola were identified by investigators as part of a group of Proud Boys that gathered near an entrance to the Capitol grounds on January 6th and chanted "F*** Antifa" and "We love Trump." Pepe was seen moving the metal police barricades, according to the indictment, and Pezzola was filmed confronting a Capitol Police officer who was attempting to control the crowd and ripping away the officer's riot shield.
