...the armed wing of the Democratic Party...rioters who tried to frame right-leaning groups were convicted of federal crimes, The Post Millennial reports.
John Wesley Wade, 35, Ellie Melvin Brett, 37, and Vida Jones, 19 were initially arrested in Oct. 2020 following a three-day spree of vandalism to police cars, postal property, and a bank in metro Atlanta. The three men planted notes that attempted to tie the crimes to the Proud Boys and other Trump-supporting groups.
"The suspects tried to frame the Proud Boys by leaving notes near the sites of vandalism that read ’Stand By,’ a reference to when former President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
told the right-wing group to ’stand back and stand by’ after he was asked to condemn white supremacist militias during the first 2020 presidential debate," reports Mia Cathell at The Post Millennial.
The crime spree began on Sept. 30, 2020, at a Walmart on the west side of Atlanta, when one of the men smashed the window of an Atlanta Police Department vehicle with a brick. The note referred to the 2020 election and the Electoral College. Similar phrasing to the wording on the note showed up on an Instagram account belonging to one of the three men.
An hour later, one of the men threw a brick through the window of a Wells Fargo branch in Midtown Atlanta, and then in the wee hours of Oct. 1, another APD vehicle was vandalized, this one parked at a residence not far from the Walmart where the first incident took place. These two acts of vandalism featured similar notes as the first incident — but these were only the beginning.
The next night, the trio graduated to arson, beginning with a Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) police car parked at a train station. Then they set multiple fires at a post office in the West End area of Atlanta, damaging five USPS vehicles and destroying bulk containers of mail. Later, video footage at a nearby gas station showed one of the men buying another gasoline can.
In the south Atlanta suburb of East Point, the men set fire to two public works vehicles. Law enforcement found a note attached to a brick in one of the vehicles.
"The note stated ’*STOP the FAITHLESS ELECTOR vote in the WHITE HOUSE...and the FAITHLESS CHRISTMAS in the WHITE HOUSE;’ cited several Bible verses, but misspelled Jeremiah as "Jerimiah;" and included the Instagram handle, ’@NoFaithLessElector,’ associated with Brett," reported Cathell.
The three men filmed each act of arson and posted them on social media. On Oct. 4, an Instagram account reportedly associated with Jones posted footage of fire and police response to the East Point fires with the caption, Where’s the media coverage?"
A Twitter post from a now-suspended account from The Base, an Antifa group out of New York City, referred to the three as "comrades."
Brett pled guilty and will be sentenced March 22, and Jones pled guilty and faces a sentencing hearing on March 25. Wade received a sentence of five years for federal arson charges. Interestingly enough, at the time of the incidents, Wade was out on bond for his role in burning down a Wendy’s in Atlanta in the riots following the death of Rayshard Brooks at the hands of police.
Tellingly, the GPS data from Wade’s ankle monitor places him at the incidents of vandalism and arson. Sentencing guidelines also stipulate that any time he serves for the Wendy’s incident and for the property damage and arson spree will not run concurrently. Wade was one of 36 suspects arrested in conjunction with the burning down of the Wendy’s restaurant.