Feds Plan to Halt Accused Capitol Rioter’s Farflung Travels

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After greater than two years of journeying across the nation whereas awaiting trial on costs tied to the U.S. Capitol riot, Gabriel Garcia’s travels will likely be coming to an finish if federal prosecutors have their approach.

In a March 13 court docket submitting, prosecutors say they plan to oppose all future journey requests from Garcia, a former Army captain and onetime Proud Boy from Miami who’s dealing with a handful of felony and misdemeanor costs for allegedly storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The submitting was in response to his newest journey to Washington, D.C., throughout which the feds declare he misled the court docket about what he’d be as much as within the nation’s capital.

While the court docket gave Garcia the inexperienced gentle to journey to D.C. in early March to watch his fellow January 6 defendants’ trials and meet together with his counsel, he made an allegedly unauthorized pit cease at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland. He spent hours on the convention, schmoozing with the likes of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and Kimberly Guilfoyle and snapping pictures that may later find yourself on his Telegram account.

“The authorities is shocked by defendant’s whereabouts on his latest journey,” prosecutors wrote within the submitting (connected on the backside of this story).

“Because this defendant has frequently taken benefit of the permissiveness of the court docket with misleading journey requests, and takes to social media to mock the method, it’s obvious that [he] doesn’t recognize the gravity of the state of affairs he’s in and he doesn’t respect this court docket’s authority,” prosecutors declare.

Despite a court docket directive requiring him to reveal his “exact itinerary,” Garcia didn’t listing CPAC as one among his locations, in accordance with prosecutors.

Garcia’s lawyer, Aubrey Webb, offered an announcement to New Times on March 1, saying that Garcia is just not charged with a violent crime and will have the liberty to journey.

“He’s presumed harmless, and there may be nothing inappropriate about him touring. Pretrial circumstances and bond should not meant to punish the criminally accused,” Webb says.

“Every week we see J6 defendants get just a few months in jail for conduct no completely different — and at instances a lot worse — than Mr. Garcia’s allegations. The Government has singled him out as a result of he was a Miami Proud Boy. This is selective prosecution. If he was a MAGA housewife from Texas, the Government would have charged him with solely misdemeanors,” provides Webb.

Garcia, one of many first South Floridians nabbed in reference to the riot, faces six costs, together with two felonies, for allegedly storming the Capitol whereas imploring then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “Come out and play.” He inspired different members of the gang to storm the constructing and yelled out, “Fucking traitors,” amid a confrontation with police, the FBI alleges.

He cannot journey outdoors his South Florida locality with out the court docket’s permission underneath his pretrial launch circumstances.

In advance of his latest journey, Garcia informed his probation officer he was touring “up north to DC” in his RV and could be staying within the car at a lodge in Alexandria, Virginia. He arrived in Alexandria at about 4:15 p.m. on March 2 earlier than going straight to CPAC, the place he remained a lot of the night, prosecutors say. In one video Garcia posted on Instagram, he’s proven chatting it up with Gaetz and instantly mentioning that he’s a “J6er.”

“Thank you for fighting for us,” Garcia, sporting a grey Aeropostale hoodie, tells a suited-up Gaetz within the video, earlier than shaking his hand. “I actually recognize it.”

The authorities’s submitting references New Times’ latest chronicle of Garcia’s travels, particularly his insinuations that he could be driving aboard Donald Trump’s personal jet (not an RV) to D.C. As famous within the submitting, it is unclear whether or not Garcia really rode the jet.

Garcia’s lawyer declined to substantiate whether or not his consumer flew on the airplane to D.C., citing “safety considerations.”

On March 3, Garcia attended a fellow January 6 defendants’ trial together with his lawyer for “lower than three hours” earlier than touring again to Maryland to attend CPAC, in accordance with the federal submitting. He shared a photograph on Telegram of himself sporting a go well with and driving behind a automotive on the way in which again to CPAC.

Prosecutors say Garcia spent “about 12.5 hours in National Harbor at CPAC DC 23, taking footage and socializing with fellow January 6 defendants.”

“The challenge is just not that defendant attended a political occasion,” the submitting states. “The actual drawback is that defendant has repeatedly demonstrated that his representations to the court docket must be doubted.”

Garcia’s trial is slated for August.



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