Kolbie Peterson
Andy LarsenSix Utahns are among 31 members of a white supremacist group that police arrested Saturday near an LGBTQ event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, according to a booking sheet from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.
The Associated Press reported that the members of Patriot Front were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear.
The men were standing inside the truck wearing khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces when Coeur d’Alene police stopped the U-Haul and began arresting them on the side of the road.
“They came to riot downtown,” Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said at a news conference.
The Utahns who were arrested are a 27-year-old man from Springville, a 35-year-old man from Kaysville, a 23-year-old man from Midway, a 27-year-old man from Midvale, a 29-year-old man from West Valley City, and a 24-year-old man from Elk Ridge.
The Salt Lake Tribune generally doesn’t name suspects until they have been charged with a crime. While White told the AP that all 31 were charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, the Idaho court system doesn’t detail charges for all six of the Utah men.
They are all scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, White said.
Bail was set at $300 for each of the 31 arrested, booking documents indicated.
(Georji Brown via AP) Authorities arrest members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front near an Idaho pride event Saturday, June 11, 2022, after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear.
According to Utah’s court records database, none of the six Utahns appears to have a history of violent crime. One of them was charged in April with carrying a dangerous weapon under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Authorities found that the group was planning to riot in several areas of downtown, not just the park, White said.
Police found riot gear, one smoke grenade, shin guards and shields inside the van, White said. They wore arm patches and logos on their hats that identified them as members of Patriot Front, he said.
Police learned about the U-Haul from a tipster, who reported that “it looked like a little army was loading up into the vehicle” in the parking lot of a hotel, White said. Officials spotted the truck soon after and pulled it over, he said.
Videos of the arrest posted on social media show the men kneeling on the grass with their hands zip-tied behind their backs.
Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas, White said.
Patriot Front is a white nationalist hate group that formed in the aftermath of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., in which anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was killed, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The group broke off from Vanguard America, a neo-Nazi group that participated in the demonstration.
— The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Kolbie Peterson reports on food, drink and small business for The Salt Lake Tribune and also writes the Utah Eats newsletter. She previously covered breaking news, crime and public safety as part of The Tribune's enterprise team. She received her bachelor's degree at Westminster University, back when it was Westminster College. She has five cats.
Andy Larsen, a lifelong Utah resident who graduated with a math degree from Salt Lake City's Westminster College, is now The Tribune’s data columnist (after previously covering the Utah Jazz). When he's not writing about numbers in our world, Andy enjoys playing soccer, tennis and chess.