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This mugshot, provided by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office shows Patriot Front member Jared Boyce, 27, who was arrested on Saturday in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho
The mother of a member of white supremacist group Patriot Front kicked her son out of her home after he was shown rioiting at an Idaho Pride march online even though he told her not to ‘believe the media, mom. We were there to stop them grooming kids.’
Karen Amsden, mother of Patriot Front member Jared Michael Boyce, 27, who lives in Springville, Utah, made her mind up after 31 Patriot Front members were arrested with riot gear at the LGBTQ+ event after a tipster reported seeing people loading up into a U-Haul like ‘a little army’ at a hotel parking lot in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, police said.
Among one of the arrestees was Boyce, who has struggled to fill ‘a void’ in his life following his father’s departure from his family after he came out as gay, his mother Karen Amsden told the Daily Beast.
The mother-of-one, who is a licensed clinical social worker, admitted that she is going public with her coup to sabotage of her son’s standing in the group after previous attempts to persuade him to leave the far-right group have failed.
‘I would love to do whatever I can to out him [as a Patriot Front member] so that he can’t be a part of it,’ Amsden said. ‘And that they don’t want him to be a part of their group because his mom has loose lips and a big mouth and he’s never going to get away with anything.’
She confessed that ever since her son was released from jail, he told her that he would stay on with the group and therefore provided him with one final warning.
‘I told him, ‘Well, then you can’t live here. You can choose between Patriot Front and your family.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, I can’t quit Patriot Front.’ I’m like, ‘Well, then you’ve just chosen. So pack your stuff and get out of my house,” Amsden said.
Authorities arrested Boyce (pictured), along with other members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front near an LGBTQ pride event Saturday, after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear
Boyce, pictured in 2020, calls himself an ‘alpha chad, professional Antifa teabagger’ and a ‘Patriot through and f****** through’
Boyce’s mother said her son wanted to join a ‘brotherhood’ and ‘looking for some connection’ following his father’s departure from his family after he came out as gay, which left a ‘void’ in his life
Patriot Front is a white supremacist neo-Nazi group whose members perceive Black Americans, Jews and LGBTQ people as enemies, Jon Lewis, a George Washington University researcher who specializes in homegrown violent extremism, told the Associated Press.
Their playbook, Lewis said, involves identifying local grievances to exploit, organizing on platforms like the messaging app Telegram and ultimately showing up to events marching in neat columns, in blue- or white-collared-shirt uniforms, in a display of strength.
Though Pride celebrations have long been picketed by counter protesters citing religious objections, they haven’t historically been a major focus for armed extremist groups. Still, it isn’t surprising, given how anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has increasingly become a potent rallying cry in the far-right online ecosystem, Lewis said.
‘That set of grievances fits into their broader narratives and shows their ability to mobilize the same folks against ‘the enemy’ over and over and over again,’ he told the AP.
Boyce was first exposed as a Patriot Front member in 2020 on Twitter and has several clues on the social media platform hinting at his alliance with the far-right group, including his Twitter bio, which reads that he is an ‘Alpha Chad, professional Antifa teabagger’ and ‘Patriot through and f****** through.’ His username, @PedosnJooshang,’ is a slur alteration to ‘Pedos and Jews Hang.’
In Coeur d’Alene on Saturday, police found riot gear, one smoke grenade, shin guards and shields inside the van after pulling it over near a park where the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding a Pride in the Park event, Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White told the Associated Press.
The 31 Patriot Front members, arrested on Saturday after the U-Haul rental truck they were riding in was pulled over by law enforcement officials
The group was rumbled when a local resident called cops after spotting the men, all wearing white masks and carrying shields, loading themselves into the vehicle ‘like a little army’
Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas, White said. Only one was from Idaho
The group came to riot around the small northern Idaho city wearing Patriot Front patches and logos on their hats and some T-shirts reading ‘Reclaim America’ according to police and videos of the arrests posted on social media.
The 31 members arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas.
Thomas Ryan Rousseau, 23, of Grapevine, Texas, is considered to be Patriot Front’s founder (left) and was arrested on Saturday in Idaho alongside Mitchell F Wagner (right), 24, who was previously charged with defacing am mural of famous black Americans on a college campus in St. Louis last year
Among those booked into jail on misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot was Thomas Ryan Rousseau of Grapevine, Texas, who has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as the 23-year-old who founded the group after the deadly ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Also among the arrestees was Mitchell F. Wagner, 24, of Florissant, Missouri, who was previously charged with defacing a mural of famous Black Americans on a college campus in St. Louis last year.
Michael Kielty, Wagner’s attorney, said Sunday that he had not been provided information about the charges. He said Patriot Front did not have a reputation for violence and that the case could be a First Amendment issue. ‘Even if you don’t like the speech, they have the right to make it,’ he said.
Amden said Boyce, who was also arrested on Saturday, was bailed out of jail along with other members of the far-right group by anonymous donors, according to the Daily Beast. A day after his arrest, Boyce showed up to his mother’s door and told her: ‘Don’t believe the media, mom. We were just there because they’re grooming kids.’
Prior to Saturday’s event in Idaho, Boyce told his mother that he had planned a camping trip for the weekend. Amsden said she didn’t think twice and had no ‘inkling’ about her son’s suspicious activity until she received a notification on her phone about the hate group’s protest in Coeur d’Alene.
‘And I saw this news story come up that said 31 members of a white supremacist group were were arrested at a rally, and I just knew—I knew he was part of it,’ she said.
Amsden proceeded to scroll through pictures of the event, mostly seeing men wearing matching hats and white balaclavas, and at one point thought to have recognized her son.
‘I could tell it was him,’ she said. ‘And I had tried calling his phone and it was just going straight to voicemail and then later I was able to access the jail website and confirm that he was one of the guys that was arrested. It’s a sick feeling.’
The worried mother previously advised her son to not get involved into trips organized by Patriot Front or else he would see his chances of getting into trouble with the law increase.
‘He’s so misguided and bought into all their rhetoric. It just makes me sick,’ Amsden told the Daily Beast, adding that she hopes his arrest on Saturday was a ‘wake-up call’ for him to leave the group.
‘This is not who I raised,’ she added. ‘This is not the example that was set for him.’
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
The men were standing inside the truck wearing khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces
Amsden revealed that her son had been ‘looking for some kind of connection,’ and ‘brotherhood’ since he was a teen but only found Patriot Front once had entered adulthood.
Boyce was already married and had started a family by the time he joined the white supremacist group, thought to be in 2018, according to his mother. He found the faction online, Boyce’s wife at the time told his mother, and ‘had to complete an application and see some money to join.’
Boyce first started to form his own ideologies when he was around 14-year-old and dealt with his internal issues in a peaceful way, Amsden recollected. He even got a tattoo of Buddha and told others about ‘not letting anger rule and loving everyone,’ his mother said.
‘But he totally changed when he found this group,’ Amsden added. ‘I first understood how far he’d gone when he was denying the Holocaust—and one of my personal heroes is Anne Frank. And when he told me that, I thought he was kidding. Like, how can you? I just didn’t even know what to say.’
Boyce, who is now divorced, has joint custody along with wife of Amsden’s grand children, whom she’s called ‘the light of my life.’ And despite his controversial views and allegiance with the Patriot Front, Amsden still sees her son for her grand kids.
She said she became more invested in researching the far-right group to understand why her son was so captivated by it once Boyce had become more engrained into white nationalism.
Amsden also thought about calling police on her son but was reluctant to do so as Boyce hadn’t technically committed a crime. However, she was deeply worried after finding out about her son’s arrest over the weekend.
On Monday, Boyce came around his mother’s home to collect his personal items and advised his mother not to speak to media outlets or to the FBI. She has refused to abide to her son’s instructions.
‘He actually just showed up here at my house,’ Amsden said. ‘And it was a moment I’ve kind of dreaded because I was hoping he was going to change his attitude. But he’s not.’
Amsden added that she ‘just really want[s] to believe that people can change, and that he will figure it out. But my goodness, it’s taking a long time.’
The group was scheduled to be arraigned on Monday. All 31 were charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, after police received reports from residents.
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