Philly Proud Boys president Zach Rehl charged in Capitol riot

Federal authorities arrested Zach Rehl, the president of the Philadelphia Proud Boys, on Wednesday on charges he conspired with other leading members of the organization accused in the attack of the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Agents arrived at his home in Port Richmond and took Rehl, 35, away in handcuffs shortly afterward, a spokesperson for the FBI in Philadelphia said.

The charges against him had not been unsealed as of Wednesday evening. But sources familiar with the investigation said he has been indicted along with another Proud Boys organizer in North Carolina on conspiracy charges that also implicated previously charged members from Florida and Washington state.

Rehl is expected to have his first hearing in federal court in Philadelphia on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether he had retained an attorney.

Rehl’s arrest comes two weeks after The Inquirer reported on photos and videos that had circulated widely on social media showing him at the forefront of a crowd of Proud Boys and followers, many of whom had already been charged.

» READ MORE: Philly Proud Boys president Zach Rehl marched alongside leaders charged in Capitol riot

Wearing a camouflage “Make America Great Again” hat and a Temple Owls backpack, Rehl and two other leaders of the organization — Ethan Nordean, of Auburn, Wash., and Joseph Biggs, of Ormond, Fla. — guided a crowd of roughly 100 through the streets of Washington and eventually past police barricades, the footage showed.

Prosecutors have described Nordean, who goes by the alias Rufio Panman, as the de facto leader of the Proud Boys’ force that day and said in court filings last month he was granted “war powers” and “ultimate leadership” after the organization’s national leader, Enrique Tarrio, was arrested two days before the insurrection.

The Jan. 6 video footage showed him directing the marchers via bullhorn, leading chants of “Whose Streets? Our Streets” and “F — Antifa!” while Rehl and Biggs used raised fists to signal to the Proud Boys to stop or start their progress.

But while Nordean and Biggs were arrested in the weeks that followed and charged with obstruction of Congress, disorderly conduct, and entering a restricted area, Rehl remained free, prompting questions from social media sleuths who had identified him from the photos and videos early on and submitted tips to the FBI.

Calls for Rehl’s arrest only increased when a photo later published in a January edition of the New Yorker magazine showed him smoking a cigarette and checking his cell phone in a mob of rioters carousing in the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.).

At least two other men have been charged with trashing Merkley’s office, including Brandon Fellows, 26, of Schenectady, N.Y., who was arrested within two weeks of the attack. He told CNN on his way out of the Capitol on Jan. 6 that he and others were smoking weed in “some Oregon” room.

Investigators have described the Proud Boys, a militant nationwide organization whose members are among Donald Trump’s most vocal and violent supporters, as one of the primary instigating forces behind the Capitol attack and have charged more than a dozen members in connection with the insurrection so far.

Rehl, a Marine veteran and son and grandson of Philadelphia police officers, is one of the group’s most visible representatives on the East Coast.

He was one of the organizers behind the 2018 pro-Trump “We the People” rally outside Independence Hall whose attendees were eclipsed by the crowd of counterdemonstrators who showed up in response.

And when Proud Boys were spotted mingling with officers at the Philadelphia police union hall last summer after a visit from Vice President Mike Pence, Rehl was there, drinking beer and chatting with others in the parking lot who were openly carrying a Proud Boys flag.

» READ MORE: Philly’s police union says it didn’t invite Proud Boys to a Pence after-party. It didn’t ask them to leave, either.

Unlike many of those charged so far in the Capitol attack, Rehl does not appear to have shared any photos or videos of himself to social media during the insurrection.

The night before the attack he posted on his account on Parler, a social media site favored among right-wing users, that he was in D.C. Hours after police had dispersed the crowds from the Capitol on Jan. 6, he defended what had happened there as a “historical day” but did not say he had been among the rioters.