Philly Area “Proud Boy” Pleads Guilty To Jan 6 Charges
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Brian Healion, 33, of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, entered a guilty plea to a felony charge of civil disorder for his actions on January 6 2021 at the United States Capitol.
The US Attorney for Washington DC, Matthew Graves, Healion was a member of the Ministry Of Self Defense, which Graves said was a “sub group of the Proud Boys”. He wrote to other members of MOSD, “What time is the whole political/presidential situation happening that day? With pence and the electoral votes? And are we planning for either an unlikely joyous moment of pence [sic] growing balls?”
Healion marched with other members from the Washington Monument to the Capitol Building, yelling towrds police “Don’t make us go against you”
By the time he arrived at the U.S. Capitol, Healion had concealed his face using a black gaiter. Proud Boys leadership then led the crowd, including Healion, in a chant and a surge toward the police line.
The crowd, including Healion, crossed over and trampled bike rack barriers in their advance toward the Capitol building. Once on Capitol grounds, Healion assisted other rioters with crossing back and forth over the police line and witnessed other rioters engage with officers by attempting to pull bike rack barricades away from the police. Healion then moved to the front of the crowd opposite the line of officers and reached out to try and grab a bike. Court documents say that he attempted to grab the bike rack to interfere with the officers’ efforts to maintain a police line. Less than one minute later, Healion succeeded when he again reached out toward the bike rack, grabbed it, and yanked it away from a Metropolitan Police Department Officer.
Eventually, Healion gained entry to the capitol along with other members of the Proud Boys, Graves said. He then went into a US Senators office, took photos and then exited the capitol by way of a broken window.
The FBI found him and arrested him in Upper Darby on December of 2022. Healion will be sentenced on June 13 2024