Photo by Michele Eve Sandberg
Audio By Carbonatix
After the carnage in places like Ukraine, Gaza, and now Venezuela, it may be easy to forget that the U.S. witnessed a rare violent political uprising on our own soil just five years ago, on January 6, 2021.
A violent mob made of a collection of far-right groups stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of former President Joe Biden’s election in 2020. In the years that followed, droves of charges followed for more than 1,500 people in connection to the riot — people President Donald Trump pardoned just hours into his return to the White House in 2025.
The pardons and commuted sentences were extended to members and leaders of far-right groups, along with defendants who assaulted police officers during the attack.
The president commuted the sentences of 14 defendants affiliated with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who received an 18-year prison sentence for his role in the insurrection. He also directed the attorney general to dismiss all pending indictments related to January 6.
Miami’s very own former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for orchestrating the far-right group’s attack at the Capitol, received a full presidential pardon, unlike some of the other far-right leaders in prison. He was serving the longest sentence handed to a January 6 defendant.
Tarrio angled for a pardon almost immediately following Trump’s win in November. He swiftly returned to Miami following his release from prison, fully prepared to lead the Proud Boys once again.
“Free At Last!! #Enrique Tarrio #JusticeHasCome,” Zuny Tarrio, Enrique Tarrio’s mother, wrote on X. “Our America!”
Approximately 1,583 people were charged criminally in the four years since the insurrection, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Of those defendants, 608 were charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement agents or officers, or obstructing those officers during a civil disorder. One hundred and seventy-four people were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.
As Florida became a breeding ground for January 6 participants, here is the list of South Florida defendants who received pardons under Trump’s sweeping order.
Barbara Balmaseda – Miami Lakes
Julio Baquero – Hollywood
Bryan Roger Bishop – Marathon
Tonya Bishop – Marathon
Kenneth Bonawitz – Pompano (Proud Boy)
Samuel Pinho Camargo – Deerfield Beach
Julio Cesar Chang – Miami
Richard Cook – Boca Raton
Mason Courson – Tamarac/Weston
Jason Dolan – Wellington (Oath Keeper)
Gilbert Fonticoba – Hialeah (Proud Boy)
Gabriel Garcia – Miami (Proud Boy)
Richard Harris – Hollywood
Sarah Kathleen Holmes – Miami
Joseph LaPoint – Fort Lauderdale
Nicholes Lentz – Boynton Beach
Felipe Marquez – Coral Springs
Romero Moises – Cooper City
Barry Bennett Ramey – Plantation (Proud Boy)
William Rogan Reid – Davie
Jody Lynn Tagaris – West Palm Beach
Enrique Tarrio – Miami (Proud Boy)
Louis Valentin – Hollywood
