A reputed founder of a violent Southern California white supremacist organization accused of inciting brawls at political rallies across the state is expected to plead guilty Friday in downtown Los Angeles to a federal charge.
Robert Rundo, 34, of Huntington Beach has agreed to enter his plea to one count of conspiracy to riot, court papers show.
Rundo’s plea agreement comes months after a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a federal criminal indictment against him and another suspected member of the organization.
Rundo was extradited from Romania last year after spending nearly a year on the run. As part of his plea, federal prosecutors agreed to recommend no more than two years behind bars. Rundo has already spent almost two years in prison, court papers show.
Prosecutors allege that Rundo is a founding member of the now-defunct South Bay organization that represented itself “as a combat-ready, militant group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement,” according to the indictment.
It also contends that Rundo and his colleagues attended a number of peaceful protests, where they chased down and violently attacked counter-protesters.
The indictment was dismissed in February for the second time in five years by then-U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney. The now-retired Orange County judge rejected criminal charges in the case in 2019, after Rundo’s attorneys argued that the Anti-Riot Act cited by federal prosecutors was “unconstitutionally over-broad.”
Carney concluded that the government selectively prosecuted Rundo and Robert Boman, 31, of Torrance while ignoring violence by members of Antifa and related far-left extremist groups because the white supremacist organization engaged in what the government and many believe is more offensive speech.
Boman has not entered into a plea agreement with the government and may be heading to trial, according to court records.
In the 9th Circuit opinion in July, Judge Milan D. Smith Jr., a nominee of President George W. Bush, knocked down Carney’s selective prosecution theory, writing that the opposing left- and right-wing groups were not similar enough to meet the required standard.
According to the appeals court, the defendants “behaved like leaders of an organized crime group. They coordinated combat training sessions, created materials to recruit others, and planned cross-country travel to commit their acts. Nothing in the record indicates that (far-left group members) were similarly organized. That is, there is no evidence that these individuals trained together, coordinated their attendance at other rallies, recruited others, or otherwise did anything other than commit violence at the Huntington Beach rally,” Smith wrote.
In arguments before the appellate panel, federal public defender Caroline Platt said the Antifa members were “doing the same thing” as Rundo and Boman at the rallies, but only her clients were prosecuted. “This case is about viewpoint discrimination,” Platt told the judges.
In April, Carney sentenced white supremacist defendant Tyler Laube, 28, of Redondo Beach, to 35 days behind bars, or time already served, for punching a journalist in the face during a clash between supporters of then-President Donald Trump and opponents in Huntington Beach seven years ago.
The rallies involved in the case were May 25, 2017, at Bolsa Chica Beach in Huntington Beach; April 15, 2017, in Berkeley; and June 10, 2017, in San Bernardino.
“We are prosecuting individuals associated with a militant white-supremacy organization who are charged in a federal grand jury indictment with participating in attacks against innocent individuals who were engaging in Constitutionally protected free speech,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement in April.
“As federal prosecutors, we do everything we can to protect our community, and we do so ethically and in conformity with the Constitution. Indeed, we are sworn to uphold the Constitution, and all our actions are guided by this sacred oath. We fully believe that we have abided by these important principles in this matter.”