KC-area Proud Boy who wielded ax handle at Jan. 6 riot to plead guilty, records show

William Chrestman, the ax handle-wielding Kansas City-area Proud Boy charged with conspiring to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has agreed to a plea deal with the government, federal court records show.

Chrestman, 49, of Olathe — who prosecutors allege was a key player in the attack — is scheduled for a plea hearing Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The hearing originally was described as a “status conference,” but on Thursday it was converted to a change-of-plea hearing, according to the court docket.

Chrestman was arrested in February 2021 and has been held without bond pending trial. His plea hearing will be held before Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who has handled many of the Capitol riot cases involving Proud Boys.

The notice of Chrestman’s change of plea comes one week after co-defendant Christopher Kuehne pleaded guilty to obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, a felony. Kuehne, formerly of Olathe, had been charged with multiple felonies.

And just days before Kuehne’s guilty plea, Kelly — a Trump appointee — sentenced Proud Boys’ former national chairman Enrique Tarrio, of Miami, to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges involving his role in organizing a mob of Trump supporters to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6. Tarrio’s sentence is the longest to date in connection with the riot.

Three other Proud Boys leaders found guilty of seditious conspiracy — Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl — were sentenced shortly before Tarrio to prison terms of 15 to 18 years. Another member, Dominic Pezzola — who broke a Capitol window with a stolen police riot shield — was acquitted of the seditious conspiracy charge but sentenced to 10 years for other felonies.

The far-right Proud Boys have been key targets of the federal investigation into the Capitol attack. Authorities rounded up dozens from around the country on charges including assault of law enforcement officers, civil disorder and sedition.

Chrestman, an Army veteran and former sheet metal worker, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Feb. 26, 2021, along with three other Kansas City-area Proud Boys — Kuehne; Ryan Ashlock, of Gardner; and Louis Colon, of Blue Springs — and Arizona siblings Cory and Felicia Konold.

The six were charged with conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Chrestman also was charged with threatening to assault a federal law enforcement officer and carrying a wooden ax handle while in the Capitol building and on the grounds.

Chrestman could be seen on numerous videos alongside other Proud Boys during the insurrection, dressed in tactical gear, leading chants and at one point using the ax handle to obstruct metal barriers that had been deployed to prevent the mob from advancing further into the Capitol.

A federal judge said in one court hearing that “Mr. Chrestman was much more — much, much more — than someone who merely cheered on the violence or who entered the Capitol after others cleared the way.”

All members of the Kansas City Proud Boys group except Chrestman were released on personal recognizance bonds pending trial. Colon pleaded guilty in April 2022 to one count of civil disorder, a felony. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Ashlock was sentenced to 70 days in jail and 12 months of supervised release in November 2022 after pleading guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor.

Kuehne is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 23. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. The Konolds are scheduled for change-of-plea hearings on Nov. 1.

Chrestman’s family and other supporters have long complained that he continues to be held without bond. He is among the Capitol riot defendants incarcerated the longest, even though he hasn’t been convicted. He and other Jan. 6 inmates in the District of Columbia jail are referred to as political prisoners by former President Donald Trump and other GOP hard-liners.

The Proud Boys, an organization of self-described “Western chauvinists” known for street-level violence and confrontations with anti-fascists at protests, received national attention in September 2020 when, during the first presidential debate, Trump was asked if he was willing to condemn “white supremacists and militia groups.” Trump responded that the Proud Boys should “stand back and stand by.”

During a CNN town hall with Trump in New Hampshire in May, the former president called Jan. 6 “a beautiful day” and said many of the detainees “are just great people.” If re-elected, he said, he would be “inclined to pardon” many of the rioters convicted of federal crimes.