Oath Keeper who wanted to give Roger Stone a ride on Jan. 6 faces heap of new charges
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Things just got a whole lot tougher for Jeremy Brown, a former special-ops soldier in the U.S. Army and self-proclaimed Oath Keeper, who was already facing charges tied to his alleged involvement in the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
Brown now faces nine new charges from the Department of Justice. They come atop two existing counts that the 47-year-old has faced since October when he was charged with entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct. Prosecutors say Brown was marauding dangerously close to an area where Vice President Mike Pence would or could have been passing through.
The new allegations filed in a superseding indictment on Tuesday include possession of unregistered explosive grenades, an unregistered shotgun, 8,000 rounds of ammunition, and a Palmetto Armory rifle. Other counts are tied to illegal storage of the explosive materials and in four new charges, the DOJ also accused Brown—who once held Secret security clearance—of “unauthorized possession and control over documents relating to the national defense” in his Florida home.
Superseding Jeremy Brown Indictment April 12 2022 by Daily Kos on Scribd
On Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors say Brown sported full military gear, replete with tactical vest, radio, helmet, and zip ties, and carried large surgical trauma shears tucked into his vest as he marched on the Capitol.
He had been planning his trip to Washington since December. This, at least, is what someone described only as “Defendant 4” in court records told authorities after pleading guilty to obstructing an official proceeding on Jan. 6.
“Defendant 4” said they met Brown at Brown’s home two days before the assault but they had been chatting over Signal, an encrypted app, for weeks about their impending January rendezvous.
Brown also didn’t appear to hide his plans. For instance, on the right-wing social media app, Parler, under the account “@BrownforCongress2020” (Brown had led a failed congressional bid), he appeared to address Roger Stone, the longtime GOP fink and strategist who pumped Trump’s lies about fraud in the 2020 election.
“Mr. Stone, This is Jeremy Brown, retired Green Beret that ran for FL-14. I am headed to DC on or about the 3rd in our RV with myself and some others. We have a spot 10 miles outside DC and will have a van as well. If you need transportation or security, we can adjust to pick you up.”
RELATED STORY: Documentary featuring Roger Stone is an embarrassment of riches for Jan. 6 probe
Planning out checkpoints and rest stops before finally entering D.C. on Jan. 4., the text messages obtained by prosecutors show Brown anticipating that at least two days would be necessary to get “EVERYTHING ready once we arrive.”
He lovingly dubbed his RV “Ground Force One.”
“We have an RV [and] Van going. Plenty of Gun Ports left to fill. We can pick you up,” he allegedly wrote in a message on Jan. 1.
In a podcast in June 2021, while talking about being in D.C. on Jan. 6 and attending the Stop the Steal rally at the Ellipse, Brown admitted to being involved with the Oath Keepers after the November election and opined about the group being infiltrated. Brown also claimed two federal agents knocked on his door the following month and asked him about his political pro-Trump social media rants.
In one of those rants, Brown suggested he left guns in Virginia before the riots.
That sounds similar to what other Oath Keepers, like Edward Vallejo and ringleader Elmer Rhodes, allegedly orchestrated in a seditious conspiracy to stop the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6. Vallejo, according to his indictment, took orders from Rhodes but oversaw and coordinated weapons caches at a hotel in Virginia.
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On the podcast, Brown also said that he was with people who went into the building but he did not go inside.
FBI agents say they spoke to Brown by phone on Jan. 6 and again on Jan. 7. The call on the Jan. 6 was short. He sounded like he was in a crowd. When agents contacted him the next day. Brown admitted to being at the rally on Jan. 6 and even said he was “providing security to VIPS at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally.”
Prosecutors say on the afternoon of Jan. 6, Brown was 100 feet past barriers erected by police. As cops barked at rioters trying to retake a line thinly secured by law enforcement, Brown would not retreat until batons were brought out.
Agents said he was yelling at the police about how they were the ones violating the Constitution.
According to a statement found on his phone, when the riots were over, Brown wrote:
“Everything you are watching on the Media and the Houses of Congress is a LIE! I was shot in the neck with pepper balls and beating in the forearm with a night stick trying to shield unprotected Civilians from being hit in the head. This was an exercise in unrestrained addiction to power.”
Tuesday’s new charges don’t offer much insight about any of the allegedly classified information law enforcement found at his home in Tampa, though the documents do not appear to be directly related to Jan. 6 in any way.
They included threat frequency reports on explosives from Afghanistan in 2004, IED reports from 2005, spider device testing procedures from 2004, and fragmentary orders from 2005.
An attorney for Brown could not immediately be reached Thursday. Brown has remained in detention since his arrest last fall.
The Tampa Bay Times reported in October that authorities found $6,000 cash at Brown’s Florida home when they arrested him as well as a list of items he would need to live off the grid.
Brown will be arraigned on the superseding indictment on April 21 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sean Flynn.
The last time Brown appeared before Flynn, the judge reportedly wrestled with the decision to keep him detained but Brown had made threats against law enforcement.
He slapped together a handwritten sign and planted it in front of his home. Addressing the FBI, Homeland Security, and the local sheriff’s office, the sign called them “pawns” and warned them if they returned they would “need a bigger tactical package” to take him away.