LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A reputed founder of a violent Southern California white supremacist organization accused of inciting brawls at political rallies across the state pleaded guilty Friday in downtown Los Angeles to a federal charge.
Robert Rundo, 34, of Huntington Beach entered his plea to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act. Sentencing was set for Dec. 13.
Rundo's guilty plea 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 say 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 states that Rundo and his colleagues attended a number of peaceful protests, where they chased down and violently attacked counter- protesters.
"Mr. Rundo's cowardly and unprovoked acts of violence were unjustly carried out upon his victims, leaving those who were victimized, their families, and our community torn by hate," Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office, said in a statement.
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 -- who is charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Riot Act and one count of rioting -- 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.