Boogaloo Bois face charges of nixing evidence
Four alleged militia members associated with the extremist Boogaloo movement were indicted on charges of destroying evidence relating to the shooting of two federal security officers in Oakland last year, one of whom later died, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
Jessie Alexander Rush, Robert Jesus Blancas, Simon Sage Ybarra and Kenny Matthew Miksch face charges of conspiracy to destroy records in official proceedings. Rush is also charged with an additional count of obstruction of official proceedings, and Blancas is charged with destruction of records in official proceedings.
Federal authorities said each of the men are members of an armed militia group associated with the Boogaloo movement. The movement, whose followers call themselves Boogaloo Bois, is a loosely organized collection of extremists that seeks to accelerate a second American Civil War by causing chaos and killing law enforcement officers.
Adherents of the Boogaloo movement have been implicated in several violent plots, including the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year.
One alleged follower of the movement, Steven Carrillo, is accused of shooting two federal security officers at an Oakland courthouse on May 29, killing one.
Authorities said Carrillo used protests against the police killing of George Floyd in Oakland as a cover to carry out the shooting. He’s also accused of shooting two Santa Cruz County deputies, killing one, during a June 6 ambush.
Authorities said Carrillo, Rush, Blancas, Ybarra and Miksch — all between the ages of 21 and 33 — were all part of a WhatsApp group chat around the time of the Oakland and Santa Clara shootings. On June 6, Carrillo told the group that he was about to ambush lawenforcement officers, according to the indictment.
Authorities said Rush told Carrillo to reset his phone, which would have destroyed evidence of communications between the group members.
About an hour after the shooting of the Santa Clara County deputies, Blancas also deleted 20 files from a Dropbox account, authorities said, which included files with the rank structure of the militia group and scorecards used to rank members’ proficiency with firearms. The other members of the group are accused of deleting evidence of the chats from each of their phones.
Carrillo faces both federal and local charges of murder and attempted murder. Blancas had previously been arrested and accused of enticing a 15yearold girl to produce child pornography.
The murder suspect told a WhatsApp group that he was about to ambush law officers, according to the indictment.