COEUR D’ALENE, ID (AP) — Six of the 31 members of a white supremacist group who were arrested near a northern Idaho pride event last month pleaded not guilty Monday to misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot.
The Patriot Front members (including those from South Dakota and Wyoming), were arrested June 11 with riot gear after a tipster reported seeing people loading up into a U-Haul at a hotel parking lot in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, police said.
The group had plans to riot at the Pride event as well as other parts of the downtown Coeur d’Alene area, according to documents found during the investigation.
Appearing via Zoom for Monday’s brief court proceeding were Josiah Buster and his brother Mishael Buster and Connor Moran, all of Watauga, Texas; Derek Smith of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Dakota Tabler of West Valley City, Utah; and Justin O’Leary, of Des Moines, Washington.
Each had posted $300 bail and been released after their arrest.
First District Judge Robert Caldwell read the same charge against each defendant, which is punishable by up to a year in prison and/or a fine of $5,000.
Patriot Front is a white supremist group based in Texas and was formed in 2017 by former members of Vanguard America, another alt-right white supremist group, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The group’s manifesto calls for the formation of a white ethno-state in the United States.
