Woman says she was recruited by Proud Boys

Arizonan is charged in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. — An Arizona woman charged in the

Jan. 6 onslaught of the U.S. Capitol bragged in a Snapchat video that she was recently recruited by a Kansas City chapter of the Proud Boys, an organization that describes itself as “Western chauvinists” and has long forbidden female members.

Felicia Konold’s claim that the chapter recruited her and she was “with them now,” even though she’s not from the Kansas City area, has intrigued experts.

Details of the video surfaced last week in a probable cause affidavit against Konold, 26, of Tucson, who is charged with conspiracy, civil disorder and other federal charges stemming from the melee.

Konold sounded almost euphoric in the Snapchat video she posted after the Capitol attack, saying she never could have imagined having such an influence on the events that unfolded that day. She laughingly references “all my boys, behind me, holding me up in the air, pushing back. We (expletive) did it!”

In order to seemingly prove her point that she had just been “recruited into a (expletive) chapter from Kansas City,” she displayed on the video a two-sided “challenge coin” that appears to have markings that designate it as belonging to the Kansas City Proud Boys.

Experts who monitor such groups point to the controversy that erupted when former mixed martial arts fighter Tara Larosa tried in December to establish a Proud Girls offshoot on the social media app Telegram.

The Proud Boys’ social media channels quickly responded, calling auxiliary groups such as Proud Boy’s Girls or Proud Girls “ridiculous ideas.”

“Don’t ride our coattails,” one post read. “Want to support us? Get married, have babies, and take care of your family.”

Prosecutors allege in a court filing that William Chrestman, whom they described as the leader of Kansas City Proud Boys cell, “readily recruited” Felicia Konold and her brother, Cory Konold, from Arizona to join the Kansas City Proud Boys.

Neither her attorney, Victoria Brambl, nor her father responded to messages seeking comment. The siblings are scheduled to be released to electronically monitored home detention on Thursday.

Brambl asked a magistrate judge Wednesday that her client be allowed to possess a gun while she remains in custody because she lives in a rural area with a lot of crime.

The judge refused.

The Proud Boys have been known to incite street violence with counterprotesters. The group gained widespread attention during a presidential debate in September when then-president Donald Trump told them to “stand back and stand by.”

Prosecutors allege that, beginning in December, the Proud Boys encouraged its members to attend the Jan. 6 demonstration in Washington, D.C.

A large group of them, including Felicia Konold and other members of the Kansas City cell, was captured on video marching together and later entering the U.S. Capitol.