COUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Six Utahns were among the 31 people arrested Saturday after a white supremacist group was found near an LGBTQ event in northwestern Idaho, according to a booking sheet from the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office.
The Associated Press reports that members of Patriot Front were packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear.
The men were standing in the truck, clad in khakis, navy blue shirts, beige hats, and white balaclavas covering their faces when police stopped the vehicle and took them into custody.
All 31 were booked in jail facing charges of "conspiracy to riot," a misdemeanor under Idaho law. Their arraignments are set for Monday.
As of Sunday afternoon, three of the six Utahns in custody have been officially charged:
- Dakota Ray Tabler, 29, from West Valley City
- Cameron Kathan Pruitt, 23, from Midway
- Jared Michael Boyce, 27, from Springville
According to the booking sheets, the remaining Utahns arrested include a 24 year-old man from Elk Ridge, a 27 year-old man from Midvale, a 35 year-old man from Kaysville.
“It appears these people did not come here to engage in peaceful events,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told a Coeur d’Alene Press reporter.
Patriot Front is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “a white nationalist hate group” that formed after the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
“Patriot Front focuses on theatrical rhetoric and activism that can be easily distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country,” the Southern Poverty Law Center said of the group.
The group's manifesto calls for the formation of a white ethnostate in the United States, the Southern Poverty Law Center said.
Bail was set at $300 for each person arrested.
