New arrest shows Proud Boys engaged in 'conspiracy involving terrorism' during Jan. 6 riot: Legal expert

A Syracuse-based Proud Boy was indicted on seven counts related to his role in planning the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Matthew Greene was named in a superseding indictment with two other members of the right-wing group who remain jailed on conspiracy and other charges, reported CNY Central.

"According to the indictment, Mr. Greene and his co-conspirators intended to stop, delay, or hinder Congress's certification of the Electoral College vote, 'by force if necessary,'" said Special Agent in Charge Thomas Relford, from the FBI's Albany office. "His actions were deliberate, dangerous and illegal. Now he must face the consequences."

The 33-year-old Greene was charged along with fellow Proud Boys members Dominic Pezzola, 43, of Rochester, and William Pepe, 31, of Dutchess County.

The indictment alleges Greene and the other Proud Boys were among the first Donald Trump supporters to gain entry to the Capitol, and video and photo evidence show he held a police shield stolen from an officer by Pezzola.

Prosecutors also say Greene sent an encrypted message to an associate asking about his well-being, saying, "I'm good, we took the capital."

Greene appeared in court Tuesday on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding abetting, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and aiding and abetting, destruction of government property and aiding and abetting, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds and aiding and abetting.

Legal expert Marcy Wheeler argued that the Greene indictment was significant because the allegations were more serious than the original charges against Pepe, because prosecutors said those two Proud Boys aided and abetted Pezzola with breaking a window in the initial breaching of the Capitol.

"It wasn't until this supserseding indictment that the government formally aligned Pezzola's actions — including spectacularly breaking that first window with a riot shield — with the rest of the Proud Boy indictments, in fact making them (as the government has already argued) the same conspiracy, a conspiracy involving terrorism," she argued.