LOS ANGELES, California ( MyCaliforniaNews ) — A former Huntington Beach resident linked to a white supremacy extremist group has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for planning and engaging in riots at political rallies across California.
Robert Paul Rundo, a 34-year-old, was sentenced by United States District Judge Josephine L. Staton after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act.
“This defendant sought to further his white-supremacist ideology by plotting riots and engaging in violence at political rallies,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “Hate and violence are antithetical to American values and tear at our community. It is therefore critical that we protect the civil and constitutional rights of our community against those who promote divisiveness.”
Rundo, who became an international fugitive during a lengthy investigation, has now been held accountable for his criminal activities, according to Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. From March 2017 to May 2018, Rundo and others participated in an organization that was rebranded as the “Rise Above Movement” (RAM), representing itself as a fighting group of a new nationalist and white supremacy identity movement.