WASHINGTON — A North Carolina member of the Oath Keepers on Wednesday pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
William Todd Wilson, the 44-year-old former leader of the Sampson County chapter of the far-right militia group, pleaded guilty to the charges during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta of D.C. As part of a plea deal, he has agreed to cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation, according to the Justice Department.
Wilson conspired with Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes to “oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power,” according to a court filing.
He also joined others in amassing firearms “on the outskirts of Washington D.C. — some distributed across hotels and ‘quick reaction force’ (‘QRF‘) teams — and planned to use them in support of their plot to halt the lawful transfer of power,” the filing said.
Two other members of the Oath Keepers, Joshua James and Brian Ulrich, pleaded guilty earlier this year to seditious conspiracy charges and agreed to cooperate with the government.
Wilson, who federal prosecutors said was both a military and law enforcement veteran, had not been charged until this week, which suggests he has already begun cooperating with authorities.
Rhodes, who testified before the House committee investigating the riot via Zoom after he was taken into custody, has been detained since his arrest in Jan. 2022. His lawyer argued during a hearing that there was “no conspiracy to overthrow the government” even though there was a lot of “bombastic language involved.”
But Mehta called the evidence against Rhodes “compelling” and ordered him held pretrial, finding there were no conditions of release that could protect public safety.
Nearly 800 people have been arrested in connection with the U.S. Capitol breach, and over 250 have pleaded guilty. More than 2,500 people are believed to have entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, while hundreds more committed crimes outside. As NBC News previously reported, online sleuths have successfully identified hundreds of additional Jan. 6 participants who have not yet been charged.
Just this week, a former New York City Police officer who assaulted a D.C. police officer on the day of the riot was found guilty by a jury, a former QAnon supporter from Pennsylvania who helped assault law enforcement officers with a giant “Trump” sign pleaded guilty, and a former Marine who kicked an officer was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
