ETHAN NORDEAN a/k/a Rufio Panman

Sargent at Arms of Proud Boy’s Seattle Chapter - NEW SEARCH WARRANT EXECUTED & DOJ 2/6/21 Memo

Feb 06, 2021

“stand back and standby”

On September 29, 2020 like many Americans, I looked at my television screen and said out loud “did the President of the United States of America just tell the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by’ during the Presidential Debate”

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) describes the Proud Boys as:

self-described “Western chauvinists” who adamantly deny any connection to the racist “alt-right.” They insist they are simply a fraternal group spreading an “anti-political correctness” and “anti-white guilt” agenda.

There is a misconception that the Proud Boys are a strictly a White Supremacy group. Proud Boys are a very diverse group, generally speaking their members have varying ethic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Although there are several areas of commonality Proud Boy members have:

Misogynistic Views, Anti-Muslim, F__ Antifa, Guns, more Guns and a few more guns, Alpha Male personas aka Beta Satans

For reference, in the recent Robert Gieswein article, I walked you through the preliminary findings. The cross over of the Three Percenters, OathKeepers and ProudBoys is real. Provided that you read the various Department of Justice (DOJ) Court Filings.Which now brings us to the recent Charging Documents of a one;

ETHAN NORDEAN a/k/a Rubio Panman

Earlier this week the DOJ asked the Court to unseal the Ethan NORDEAN Complaint. DOJ-OPA February 3, 2022 Press Release.

Charge(s):
Aid and Abet Injury or Depredation Against Government Property; Obstruct or Impede an Official Proceeding; Knowingly Entering or Remaining in Restricted Building or Grounds; Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds

Nordean’s charging documents

Nordean is the self-described “Sergeant of Arms” of the Seattle Chapter of the Proud Boys, a group self-described as a “pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world; aka Western Chauvinists.”

Proud Boys’ Appearances at Previous Demonstrations in Washington, D.C. Specifically on page 3, paragraphs 6 and 7 of the affidavit. These previous “rallies/marches” are important, because the prosecution appears to be establishing a predicate.

November 14, 2020, the “Million MAGA March” was held in Washington, D.C. Members of the Proud Boys attended the demonstration wearing their yellow and black colors and other recognizable emblems and logos associated with the group.
December 12, 2020, a similar demonstration took place in Washington, D.C. the “December Demonstration”

The charging documents also state that on January 6, 2021, NORDEAN was marching towards the front of a Proud Boys group as it proceeded down Constitution Avenue, Northwest. The Proud Boys group engaged in various chants and “response calls, including:

”F*** Antifa!” and “Whose streets? Our streets!” To NORDEAN’s right, and also marching at the front of the group, is a self- described organizer of the Proud Boys, Joseph Biggs.

I believe that this is the video which was captured by a video journalist on the scene, that is referenced in the NORDEAN affidavit

The NORDEAN affidavit referenced an exchange between NORDEAN and Person A, who is later identified as Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs, and the man in the sunglasses and holding a megaphone as NORDEAN, who utilizes the alias “Rufio Panman.”

According to the charging documents, NORDEAN was at the front of the insurrectionist mob, which violently forced entry into our Capitol, in part by over powering the U.S. Capitol Police. The U.S. Capitol Police were grossly outnumbered. One indisputable point is this wasn’t a “spontaneous” riot.

NORDEAN then appeared to engage in a brief exchange with a person that I recognize as Robert Gieswein, who was among the first to enter the Capitol through a window that was broken by a person that has been identified as Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola“

In paragraph 28 the Government discloses that NORDEAN posted and solicited donations, nearly a week in advance. He also solicited funds and used the Internet to communicate and likely coordinate with others. It is possible that an indictment might include additional charges, specifically interstate commerce, wires, telephone etc

Dec. 27, 2020, Nordean posted a message asking for donations of “protective gear” and “communications equipment.” (See 2/6/21 DOJ Memo)

Shortly after several investigative journalists and Twitter researchers presented indisputable facts, with multiple receipts to back up those facts. It was clear that some of the militia groups used numerous Zello channels to communicate with each other before, during and after the deadly insurrection. Once this information was in the Public Domain, this likely served as a catalyst for Zello’s January 13, 2021 statement, which reads in part:

It is with deep sadness and anger that we have discovered evidence of Zello being misused by some individuals while storming the United States Capitol building last week…we are concerned that Zello could be misused by groups who have threatened to organize additional potentially violent protests and disrupt the U.S. Presidential Inauguration Festivities on January 20th.

On Jan. 4, 2021, Nordean posted a link to his video video on social media. The link was to his “Rebel Talk with Rubio” His Parlay was captioned, “Let them remember the day they decided to make war with”. The nearly one hour long video podcast, NORDEAN discussed what he described as “blatant, rampant voter fraud” in the Presidential election.

…rather than being complacent, the Proud Boys were going to “bring back that original spirit of 1776 of what really established the character of what America is. And it’s not complacency, it’s not low standards. It’s ‘this is how it’s going to be, and I don’t give a god damn.’” Later in the video, Nordean said, “Democracy is dead? Well, then no peace for you. No democracy, no peace.”

Did Parler hand over user info to Law Enforcement ? Maybe

The social media platform of choice for the Insurrections, Parler, albeit Facebook clocks in as a photo finished but still a close second. Parler’s platform quickly became an amalgamation of QANON, MAGA, Proud Boys, OathKeepers, Three Percenters and other diehard Trump disciples. A reasonable deduction of why Parler became so attractive, it could be due to Parler’s “laissez-faire” approach. This echo chamber became the perfect fit for the unhinged conspiracy theorist and thusly a nexus of massive a protracted disinformation and misinformation campaign. Sadly this had deadly consequences.

70+ terabytes of Parler info archived

A “white-hat-hacker” known as @donk_enby, used a little known bug. This resulted in the over seventy (70) plus terabytes of Parler data being preserved. Understanding that Parler was on “borrowed time” @donk_enby began the incomprehensible task of ensuring that Data was archived. Critically important was the GPS coordinates of some users. As previously noted in the Rachel Powell Affidavit, prosecutors disclosed that Powell’s iPhone was pinging off of cell towers in Washington DC. That kind of data includes, dates, times, and any incoming/outgoing communications (such as calls received or made, similarly for any text messages). Thereby placing a defendant literally at the scene of the crime.

From a researcher standpoint archiving social media post(s) is incredibly important, you are both figuratively and literally in a “race against time” because if you don’t archive then the data is gone. The sheer volume of data was/is incomprehensible. I highly recommend you read this Gizmodo Article. Nor is this an abstract or theoretical argument, we know that recently Parler provided the FBI with information tied a user by the name of; Eduard Florea. As court records reflect Flores used Parler to post actual death threats against then Senator-Elect Warnock. (Jan 13, 2021 Complaint & Jan 22 Indictment) In addition Flores also had a large cache of ammunition, guns, and swords.

ETHAN NORDEAN and Parler

Which now brings us to paragraph 28 of the NORDEAN affidavit. Like many who read Court filings, there tend to be clues sprinkled throughout the filings. For Example “judicially authorized search” typically means a search and seizure warrant. Whereas an Administrative request, typically means an “administrative subpoena”. And when an affidavit makes zero mention of how investigators obtained various social media posts. There are a few logical conclusions; either the data was “public” or in rare cases the provider may have “voluntarily” provided information to law enforcement

NORDEAN posted a picture of himself with the caption “Violent extremist,” the affiant attested that NORDEAN’s “parley” was “an effort to make light of the public condemntation of NORDEAN’s and others’ participation in the riot”

Widely overlooked in the DOJ-OPA is who’s prosecuting the case…”the Department of Justice’s National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section” this particular disclosure is important.

In the Government’s February 3, 2021 Motion for Detention, as to defendant NORDEAN, prosecutors checked the “Crime of Terrorism” box.

Feb 6, 2021 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF PRETRIAL DETENTION

(ECF/PACER link or you can pull it down from my drive) the prosecution disclosed; February 3, 2020, federal law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Defendant’s residence. Among the items recovered from the search

Proof of Defendant’s travel to Washington, D.C., during the time period of the Capitol Riot; Defendant’s laptop computer and cellular telephone; Clothing and other items bearing Proud Boys’ logos and insignia; Clothing matching the photographs above taken on January 6, 2021;
Ledgers, notebooks, and other records related to Proud Boys operations;

Valid, unsigned, U.S. Passport, issued to another individual with a comparative likeness to Defendant. (The passport was recovered from a bedside table along with a legitimate passport issued to Defendant’s wife.)

oh and Always read the Footnotes

Footnote No 1 January 19, 2021, Joseph Biggs has been charged by criminal complaint for violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(c), 1752(a), and 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) and (F). United States v. Joseph Biggs, 21-mj-126. The Biggs affidavit.

Footnote No 2: On January 27, 2021, a grand jury returned an indictment that charged Gieswein with violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(c)(2), 111(a)(1) and (b), 1361, 2, and 1752(a)(1). United States v. Robert Gieswein, Case No: 21-cr-24. Which was previously detailed in this article

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