Oath Keepers founder to remain in custody until trial, judge rules

Oath Keepers leader ordered to remain in jail until trial

The North Texas man who leads an extremist militia will remain in jail until his trial on charges related to the Capitol riot.

PLANO, Texas - A federal judge has decided the leader of a far right extremist group will remain in custody until his trial date.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is charged with seditious conspiracy for his alleged role in the January 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol.

Federal prosecutors told a U.S. Magistrate in a Plano federal courtroom on Monday that Rhodes is dangerous, destroyed evidence and is a flight risk. Defense attorneys called it disingenuous to claim Stewart, a Yale law graduate, is a flight risk a year after the riot.

FILE - Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers. (Aaron C. Davis/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Rhodes’ attorneys also denied he was a co-conspirator in planning the attack.

The Granbury man founded the Oath Keepers in 2009. They are accused of mobilizing and equipping some of the hundreds of rioters who mobbed the Capitol.

The government said the group with Rhodes at the helm plotted and planned the attack on the Capitol in the months leading up Jan. 6, 2021. He reportedly spent thousands on guns and equipment to try and prevent the peaceful transfer of power and even after the insurrection talked about the need for a second civil war.

The Oath Keepers recruit military and law enforcement into its ranks to, according to the group, defend constitutional rights against what it sees as a tyrannical government.

If convicted, Rhodes faces 20 years in prison.