Chesapeake men face additional charges in Philadelphia

Pair that allegedly planned to stop vote count in November went to Capitol riot while out on bail

The two men from Chesapeake who allegedly went to Philadelphia in November armed with guns and other weapons to confront elections officials counting presidential votes are facing new charges.

The pair initially had several weapons charges against them, but those have been amended to include charges for attempted interference with primaries and elections, conspiracy and hindering or delaying performance of a duty, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office.

Philadelphia prosecutors allege that Antonio LaMotta, 61, and Joshua Macias, 42, were there “with the intent to interfere with the vote canvass being conducted by the Philadelphia Board of Elections.”

In a statement Thursday, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said the men drove to Philadelphia “for purposes far more nefarious than sight-seeing.”

On Nov. 5, police were alerted to be “on the lookout for a mother, son and another man from Virginia Beach traveling to Philadelphia to ‘straighten things out’ as vote counting continued,” according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The alert said the people were believed to have an AR-15 rifle in the car and were suspected of recently purchasing large amounts of ammunition and AR-15 parts, the newspaper reported.

Philadelphia police found the suspects’ silver Hummer truck a block from the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where votes were being counted. Officers on bicycles then found the two men armed with guns.

When the pair was first arrested, bail was set at $750,000 each, and they were freed after posting bail.

But when prosecutors learned the pair had gone to the riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, from tweets and Facebook postings from Washington, according to The Inquirer, they asked the judge to revoke bail. The request was denied. They were back in court Thursday.

The judge dropped gun charges against Macias, a co-founder of Vets for Trump, because he had a gun permit in Virginia, according to the Inquirer. However, he upheld the charge against LaMotta because he had no permit, the newspaper reported.

Prosecutors plan to refile the charges against Macias because they believe the statute is being misinterpreted, according to a spokeswoman from Krasner’s office.

The judge approved additional conditions on their release, including a prohibition on social media activity.

Prosecutors wrote in a motion that the pair violated bail conditions by “traveling across state lines in an attempt to interfere with lawful democratic process.”

Macias was listed as a speaker at the “Freedom Rally” in the park next to the Capitol building, according to court documents. The prosecution included the text of a speech Macias gave at the Washington riot.

The speech, which seems in part to be directed at Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump, says “Defend this Constitution against foreign and domestic enemies. Those domestic enemies are here. You’re not awake America! Be awoke! The enemy is not at the gate, the enemy is already here.”