KC-area Proud Boys plead not guilty to conspiracy, other charges in Capitol riot case
Four Kansas City-area Proud Boys and two Arizona siblings who prosecutors say conspired to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6 have pleaded not guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C.
William Chrestman and Christopher Kuehne, both of Olathe, Louis Enrique Colon of Blue Springs, Ryan Keith Ashlock of Gardner and Arizona siblings Felicia and Cory Konold were arraigned this week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. All six were indicted Feb. 26 by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia on conspiracy charges and other offenses related to the insurrection.
Chrestman, an Army veteran and unemployed union sheet metal worker, also is charged with threatening to assault a federal law enforcement officer and carrying a wooden ax handle while in the Capitol building and on the grounds.
All except Chrestman were released on a personal recognizance bond pending trial. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., last month reversed a Kansas judge’s decision to release Chrestman and ordered him to be held without bond until his trial. Prosecutors allege that Chrestman, 47, was a key player in the deadly riot.
Chrestman appeared in court via videoconference Wednesday from Oklahoma, where he is in custody awaiting transfer to Washington, D.C. The others were arraigned on Tuesday. Their next court hearing is scheduled for May 5.
The Proud Boys are at the forefront of the federal investigation into the insurrection. Authorities have rounded up about 20 Proud Boys from around the country, including several in leadership positions, on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to conspiracy to assaulting a federal officer.
Last week, the FBI arrested two more Proud Boys organizers, one in North Carolina and one in Philadelphia, and new charges were filed against two leaders in Washington state and Florida in a conspiracy indictment that accused the four of coordinating efforts to interfere with police and obstruct Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
In the case involving the Kansas City-based group, the grand jury indictment alleges that the Proud Boys “planned with each other, and with others known and unknown, to forcibly enter the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and to stop, delay, and hinder the Congressional proceeding occurring that day.”
The charging documents allege that some of the Kansas City group traveled to Washington together, stayed in short-term rental property and coordinated their efforts to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The documents say that all six in the Kansas City group wore strips of fluorescent orange tape on their headgear or backpacks, and Kuehne was carrying rolls of the tape with him. Chrestman, Kuehne and Colon wore tactical style gear, including helmets and gloves, and Chrestman arrived at the Capitol with a respirator and an ax handle disguised as a flag.
Court documents say the six were among a large group that included Proud Boys who were marching toward the Capitol. After pushing through one set of police barricades, it said, Chrestman stood directly in front of officers and yelled, “You shoot and I’ll take your f------ ass out!”
Prosecutors allege that Felicia Konold, of Tucson, Arizona, bragged on a Snapchat video that she had just been recruited into a Kansas City Proud Boys chapter. She said she’d been told that even though she wasn’t from Kansas City, she was “with them now,” according to the affidavit.
On the video, Felicia Konold displayed a two-sided “challenge coin” that appeared to have markings designating it as belonging to the Kansas City Proud Boys, the affidavit said. The “KC” on the coin is identical to the Kansas City Royals’ logo.
According to the indictment, “In the course of these events, approximately 81 members of the Capitol Police and 58 members of the Metropolitan Police Department were assaulted. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage — including broken windows and doors, graffiti, and residue from pepper spray, tear gas, and fire extinguishers deployed both by crowd members who stormed the Capitol and by Capitol Police officers trying to restore order.”
In a recent court filing, prosecutors said the investigation and prosecution of the Capitol attack “will likely be one of the largest in American history, both in terms of the number of defendants prosecuted and the nature and volume of the evidence.”
“Over 300 individuals have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack,” the document said. “The investigation continues and the government expects that at least 100 additional individuals will be charged.”
Those charged and under investigation come from across the country, it said, and more than 900 search warrants have been executed in nearly every state and the District of Columbia.
The evidence accumulated, prosecutors said, includes more than 15,000 hours of surveillance and body-camera footage from multiple law enforcement agencies; about 1,600 electronic devices; more than 210,000 tips, many of which provided video, photo and social media information; and more than 80,000 reports and 93,000 attachments related to interviews of suspects and witnesses.
“As the Capitol attack investigation is still ongoing,” prosecutors said, “the number of defendants charged and the volume of potentially discoverable materials will only continue to grow.”
