Three Black Lives Matter and Antifa rioters have been convicted on federal charges after attempting to frame the Proud Boys for vandalism and arson attacks the far-left extremists carried out on Atlanta police vehicles and U.S. Postal Service property just before the 2020 presidential election.
InsiderAdvantage cites a story by journalist Mia Cathell of The Post Millenial which reports that John Wesley Wade, Ellie Melvin Brett and Vida Jones were arrested in October 2020 on federal charges related to the string of incidents. And all this has been barely acknowledged in Georgia media.
The suspects tried to frame the right-wing Proud Boys by leaving notes near the sites of vandalism that read “Stand By,” a reference to when former President Donald Trump told the group to “stand back and stand by” during the first 2020 presidential debate.
Cathell’s report states:
“At around 12:50 am on Oct. 2, 2020, several fires were set at the West End Post Office located at 848 Oglethorpe Avenue. One fire was set within a bin of mail on the loading dock of the Post Office building itself, destroying much of the mail and damaging other property in the possession of the U.S. Postal Service. The other fires damaged five USPS vehicles that were parked in the secure, enclosed parking area.
“The attack was one of at least seven related arson and vandalism incidents directed at law enforcement, a bank, and other government entities that occurred around the Atlanta metropolitan area between Sept. 30, 2020, and Oct. 2, 2020.
“At around 10:49 pm on Sept. 30, 2020, in the parking lot of a Walmart located at 835 M.L.K. Jr. Drive, the window of an Atlanta Police Department (APD) patrol vehicle was smashed with a brick with a note wrapped around it.
“The APD Video Integration Center (VIC) captured video footage showing two males wearing dark clothing, masks, and hoods. One male was wearing a somewhat distinctive jacket that was darker on the top half than on the bottom half. The second male was wearing all black or a similarly dark color.”
Police found the brick and note at the scene which mentioned Election Day and the date the Electoral College was to meet.
Furthermore, Cathell writes, at approximately 11:46 pm on Sept. 30, 2020, about an hour after the first incident, another brick with a note attached was thrown through the window of a Wells Fargo Bank at 240 Peachtree Street in Atlanta. The note referenced the Electoral College and again included the phrase “stand by.” A fingerprint left on the note preliminarily matched with a known print of Wade’s.
“At around 1:33 am on Oct. 1, 2020, shortly after the second incident, the window of another marked APD vehicle parked outside a residence was smashed with a brick. The vandalism was a few blocks from the first incident,” Cathell continued.
After the three brick incidents, they escalated to include arson the next night. The suspects filmed the fires and posted the videos to social media.
The first arson attack, now including Jones, occurred overnight on Oct. 1, 2020, when fire was lit to damage a marked Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) police patrol vehicle. Several fires were also immediately set at the West End Post Office residing on Oglethorpe Avenue.
According to the court documents, the suspects left in Brett’s vehicle and headed towards a nearby Chevron gas station, minutes after the post office fires. Surveillance footage inside the station showed an individual matching Jones’s physical description and was wearing a red-and-black striped winter hat, dark clothing, and gloves that were black on the back and gray on the palm with distinctive markings. What appeared to be a portable Bluetooth speaker was affixed to the suspect’s waist on his right side next to a dual-chain wallet chain.
The video from inside the Chevron station showed the individual identified as Jones purchasing a red gas container at approximately 1:00 am.
The East Point Police Department, the Marta Police Department, the Atlanta Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the Atlanta Fire Department, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, and the State Fire Marshal’s Office were all involved in arson and vandalism investigation, Fox5Atlanta reported.
Interestingly, The Base– a New York City-based Antifa group—praised Wade, Britt and Jones as the far-left organization’s “comrades in Atlanta.”
“Our comrades in Atlanta are facing extreme, yet totally expected repression. Read about the situation, support the comrades and follow @atl_arc for more info,” @TheBaseBK, a now-suspended account, wrote in a Twitter post on Nov. 10, 2020.
Brett pled guilty and is to be sentenced on March 22. Jones, who also pled guilty, has a sentencing hearing scheduled for March 25.
Wade was sentenced to five years in federal prison on federal arson charges. He was subject to GPS ankle-monitoring at the time of the attacks when he was released on bond for burning down the Wendy’s location in Atlanta, where Rayshard Brooks was shot by Atlanta police.
GPS data from Wade’s ankle monitor showed that his location was consistent with the time and place the incidents occurred, according to the court documents.
Also, any sentence that stems from the prior Wendy’s arson case will not run concurrently, according to sentencing guidelines for Wade.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced last January that Wade and two other suspects were indicted for setting fire to the Wendy’s restaurant located on University Avenue in southwest Atlanta on June 13, 2020. They are pleading “not guilty.”
