Jan. 6 rioter accused of destroying evidence sentenced to more than 4 years in prison
A California man accused of organizing a group of Jan. 6 rioters, participating in the riots and attempting to destroy evidence of his involvement was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Tuesday, the Justice Department announced.
Edward Badalian was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding in April. He was sentenced to four years and three months in prison and was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.
Prosecutors allege that Badalian used a Telegram group chat named “PATRIOTS45MAGA Gang” to encourage violence against political enemies, and at one point said he wanted to arrest President Biden.
Badalian and the other members of the group sent hundreds of messages about committing violence against political enemies and revolution against the government, prosecutors allege.
“We need to violently remove traitors and if they are in key positions, rapidly replace them with able-bodied Patriots,” he said in the chat, according to prosecutors.
He later attended the Stop the Steal rally in front of the Capitol Building with the same group and participated in the riots. Prosecutors said he entered the Capitol Building through a broken window after clashing with police and rifled through a Capitol office looking for “intel.”
On the drive from Washington back to California after the riots, Badalian called into the “InfoWars” web show “War Room” and discussed his participation under the pseudonym “Turbo.” He said in the interview that a video showed him fighting what he believed were members of “Antifa” disguised as Trump supporters during the riots.
“War Room” host, Owen Shroyer, was sentenced to two months in jail earlier this month for his involvement in the riots.
After that interview, prosecutors allege Badalian confronted another rioter about destroying evidence of him and the group being present at the Capitol Building. Prosecutors allege he wrote to the other rioter, “I want to help you delete everything and to transfer files to a secure hard drive.”
That other rioter, who was not named, did not delete the evidence, prosecutors wrote. Badalian’s efforts to cover up his Jan. 6 participation also included changing his phone number, prosecutors said.
More than 1,100 people have been charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 riots, the Justice Department said, including about 400 for assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
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