Proud Boys member from Hialeah convicted for role in Jan. 6 insurrection

A Hialeah man was convicted on Friday for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department announced.

A federal judge found 49-year-old Gilbert Fonticoba guilty of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. Fonticoba was a member of the so-called “Vice City” chapter of the Proud Boys, a right-wing militant group that played a central role in the insurrection at the Capitol more than two-and-a-half years ago, the Justice Department said in a press release.

According to federal prosecutors, Fonticoba was among the rioters that illegally breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 as members of Congress met to certify President Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. He aided other rioters in destroying a metal fence and “interfered with officers who were trying to stop the crowd’s advance because he wanted to stop the certification of the Electoral College vote,” the Justice Department said.

According to the account presented by prosecutors, Fonticoba met a group of roughly 100 other Proud Boys members near the Washington Monument in D.C. on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021. The group eventually marched toward the U.S. Capitol.

After trampling police barricades and pulling down the metal fence, Fonticoba and other rioters made their way into the Capitol, not long after the first wave of rioters had breached the building. Minutes later, Fonticoba posted a message to the instant-messaging service Telegram: “We just stormed the [Capitol].”

A sentencing hearing for Fonticoba is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2024. The felony obstruction charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, as well as potential financial penalties, while the civil disorder charge carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison.

Fonticoba is one of several Proud Boys who previously sat on the executive committee of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade, according to Miami New Times and The New York Times.

Fonticoba’s conviction came just a month after the Proud Boys’ former leader Enrique Tarrio, a Miami native, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Tarrio was convicted in May of seditious conspiracy related for the central role he played in the effort to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election and keep former President Donald Trump in the White House.