BY WALTER ELLIOTT
NEWARK – When President Donald J. Trump issued full and unconditional pardons to the some 1,500 people who have been convicted of or awaiting jurisprudence on Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection charges Jan. 20, it meant that they can walk out of prison, jail or court as free men and women.
Trump, in his sweeping executive orders, also commuted the sentences of 15 former Proud Boys and Oath Keepers officials. One of those commuted was Enrique Tarrio, who was released later that Monday from a federal medium security prison in Louisiana for Miami. The Proud Boys leader was serving a 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy.
Some of them – whose charges range from trespassing to assault to seditious conspiracy – may be walking about their former haunts here in “Local Talk” land as of press time.
It is not clear whether Trump’s pardons and commutations would expunge records of those who have already served their sentence – as in the case of Elias Irizarry, who was a Montclair High School student who spoke before the Township Council in Feb. 22, 2017.
Irizarry, the 17, spoke before the council over its pending resolution to designate the township as a “welcoming” community instead of a “sanctuary” community. He was representing himself as Chairman of the Essex County Teenage Republicans and in opposition to “sanctuary” status.
Irizarry told the council and the council chamber gallery audience that Montclair was diverse except for anybody with right-wing opinions.” He added that “We need to put Montclair citizens first, not undocumented foreigners.””
The “welcoming” community measure was passed 4-2 with one council member absent.
Irizarry came to Washington, D.C. Jan. 6 by way of Charleston, S.C. The MHS Class of 2018 graduate was accepted to The Citadel military college there. He was given a gold star for academics, was a member of the Gastonia, N.C. Civil Air Patrol and “Citadel Bulldogs for Trump” when the 2020-21 winter holiday break came around.
Irizarry drove to metro Washington Jan. 5 and stayed overnight in a hotel with two friends. U.S. Department of Justice documents have him seen entering The Capitol and was photographed watching the chaos below from the building’s rooftop and holding a metal pole given to him by another rioter.
Although he did not attack any of the Capitol Police officers, we witnessed the violence and directed some of the rioters. He had entered the building through a broken window and was seen sitting in an atrium with the pole on his lap.
Irizarry returned to Charleston, where he was arrested on a warrant by FBI agents Jan. 15. He was charged in federal court Jan. 16 with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in said restricted building or grounds.
Irizarry posted an unsecured $25,000 release bond and returned April 16 to plead not guilty to all counts under arraignment. He pleaded guilty before U.S. Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C. to the first count Oct. 26, 2022.
Chutkan sentenced him to 14 days imprisonment and $500 restitution for the misdemeanor crime March 15, 2023. That restitution went towards $2.7 million in repairing The Capitol. The Citadel meanwhile suspended the political science major for “Conduct Unbecoming a Cadet” Dec. 14, 2022.
Although Irizarry, now 23, still has parents in Montclair, it is more likely that he will resume civilian life in Rock Hill, S.C. It was there where he had entered the Republican Primary for State House of Representatives District 43, namely parts of Chester and York counties, March 24, 2024.
Irizarry lost the June 6 primary to incumbent Randy Ligon. There were no Democratic Party candidates fielded for the June 8 or Nov. 5 elections there.
It is less clear whether the vice president of the Proud Boys North Jersey Chapter had ties to West Orange.
Although Shawn Price’s official address during his jurisprudence was Morris County’s Rockaway Township, FBI agents had linked through “his cell phone records to a previous address in West Orange.” Price had also resided in Hopatcong in Sussex County.
FBI agents had arrested Price in Rockaway on June 8, 2012 and was arraigned June 16 on the following counts:
- Obstruction of Justice/Congress, influencing or impeding an official proceeding or attempting to do so or to aid, abet, counsel, induce or command the commission thereof.
- Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds/Obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder.
- Knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in any restricted property or grounds.
- Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority.
Price was facing up to five years’ imprisonment and $250,000 maximum federal fine for the felonies.
According to court records, Price went to The Capitol grounds 1 p.m. Jan. 6 with “10 to 12” members of his Proud Boys chapter. The group, who attained notoriety as early as 2017, defined themselves as “pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world, aka Western Chauvinists.” Price himself attended several Trump rallies and Proud Boys events in autumn 2020.
Price came to The Capitol’s Lower West Terrace with a pair of goggles, milk and other items to counteract any pepper spray or chemical irritants that Capitol Police officers or fellow insurrectionists would deploy. He would push four of his chapter colleagues through the police line, taking the irritants and a rubber police bullet in the process 1:30 to 1:45 p.m.
The then-26-year-old and a couple of other rioters then tried to pry one of their colleagues from Capitol Police officers’ hands, insulting them in the process. He recorded the altercation on Facebook and called his mother in South River, N.J. by 3 p.m.
Released on his own recognizance, Price pleaded guilty of interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder before a U.S. District of Columbia judge Oct. 14, 2022. He and his Paterson attorney, at the April 3, 2023 sentencing hearing, said that Price had renounced Proud Boys membership, was working at a tire store and had a fiancée. They said that he was trying to turn away from earlier brushes with the law, including a 2021 drug arrest in Passaic County.
U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols sentenced Price to 12 months and a day in prison and $2,000 restitution. Federal prosecutors had asked for between 12 and 18 months. Both the judge and prosecutors acknowledged that Price, after pleading guilty, had cooperated with the insurrection investigation.
Nichols, after serving time, tried to file petition signatures to run in the Aug. 23, 2024 Republican primary for a Pinellas County (Fla.) District Commissioner seat. That county elections board, however, had disqualified him from running.
Three others, according to Insurrectionindex.org, either surrendered to authorities or were arrested in Newark. All three – Julian Elias Khater, Mick Chan and Lawrence “Larry” Dropkin, Jr. – were convicted.
Khater, who was arrested here March 15, 2021, was serving an 80-month sentence on Jan. 20, 2025 for federal assault of a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. The State College, Pa. resident was accused of dousing Capitol Police Off. Brian Sicknick with pepper spray. That exposure had led to Sicknick, 42, formerly of South River, to die of two fatal strokes Jan. 7.
Khater had pleaded guilty to the count Sept. 1, 2022 and was sentenced Jan. 27, 2023. His 80-month sentence included 24 months’ credit for time served plus another 24 months of supervised release and $12,200 in fines and restitution.
Dropkin, of Raritan Township, surrendered here Oct. 1, 2021. The former route salesman pleaded guilty July 20, 2022 of four disorderly conduct, parading and being in a restricted zone – including being in The Capitol Rotunda. He was sentenced Oct.7, 2022 to 30 days imprisonment, 60 hours of community service, a year of supervised release and $500 restitution.
Chan, whose hometown remains unclear, also surrendered to the FBI-Newark Field Office. Sept 21, 2021. This was after he called an agent and asked if he was in trouble for “breaking into” The Capitol. He was charged Dec. 14, 2021 with being in a restrictive zone, being disorderly on said grounds, disorderly within The Capitol and parading or picketing in The Capitol.
Chan then pleaded guilty on all counts July 12, 2022. He was sentenced May 5, 2023 to three months imprisonment, another five months in home detention, a year of supervised release and $500 restitution.
