LOS ANGELES (CN) — A white supremacist was sentenced to two years in federal prison on Friday for organizing violent confrontations with leftist demonstrators at political rallies in California.
Robert Rundo, 34, had pleaded guilty on September 13 to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act.
His sentencing hearing in Los Angeles marks the end of the lengthy prosecution that was derailed twice by U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in Santa Ana. The George W. Bush appointee first dismissed the charges because he thought the U.S. Anti-Riot Act was “unconstitutionally overbroad.”
After the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruing and reinstated the charges and Rundo was extradited to the U.S. from Romania, Carney threw them out a second time, and concluded Rundo and his fellow defendants were the victims of selective prosecution because the government hadn’t charged antifa demonstrators who engaged in violence.
Again, the Ninth Circuit reversed and this time ordered the case to be assigned to a different judge. Rundo then cut a plea deal with the prosecution, who agreed not to seek more than two years in prison.
“This defendant sought to further his white-supremacist ideology by plotting riots and engaging in violence at political rallies,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “Hate and violence are antithetical to American values and tear at our community. It is therefore critical that we protect the civil and constitutional rights of our community against those who promote divisiveness.”
Rundo — from Huntington Beach, California — admitted in court he was part of white-supremacist gang Rise Above Movement (RAM) in 2017 and 2018. He organized and participated in hand-to-hand combat training sessions as the group prepared for violent confrontations at political rallies, often with antifa counterdemonstrators.
A purported co-founder of the group, Rundo and his cronies posted messages and photos of themselves on social media preparing for or engaging in violence. Included with the posts were messages like “When the squad[‘s] not out smashing commies,” “#rightwingdeathsquad,” and “goodnightleftside.”
In March 2017, the group attacked counterdemonstrators at a pro-Trump rally in Huntington Beach, with Rundo tackling and punching one protester multiple times.
They then posted photos and videos online celebrating their violence. In one post, Rundo said that “shortly after this pic antifa was btfo [blown the fuck out] in Huntington Beach.”
Rundo and others in his group also sought out confrontations with left-wing demonstrators at rallies in Berkeley and San Bernardino, California, pursuing and attacking them, according to his plea agreement.
At the Berkeley rally, Rundo and other RAM members wrapped their hands with athletic tape and wore matching gray shirts and black masks with white skeleton designs around their faces, according to an affidavit from an FBI agent. They displayed a sign that stated “Defend America.”
Like at the Huntington Beach rally, Rundo also assaulted counterprotesters. He led a group of RAM members in knocking down two temporary plastic fences, erected by the Berkeley Police Department to separate the opposing groups, in order to engage in altercations with counterprotesters.
Rundo punched multiple people during the Berkeley violence, the FBI agent said in his affidavit. In one instance, he approached a counterprotester from behind and punched him in the side of the head, knocking him to the ground.
In a different altercation, a police officer ordered Rundo to stop attacking the counterprotesters. Rundo did not comply with that order and instead punched the officer twice in the head.