Jeffery Finley was searching for a men’s group to assist him with his feelings of isolation and lack of connection in his life and community.
He was curious about the Proud Boys, self-described as a “pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world; aka Western Chauvinists.”
But his options were limited. There was no Proud Boys chapter in West Virginia. So, according to his lawyer, he became the president of a West Virginia chapter of the Proud Boys — because he started his own chapter.
And that’s what led him to Monday’s trouble.
Stand back and stand by.
Finley, 30, of Martinsburg has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. He’s scheduled for sentencing at 1:30 p.m. Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before Judge Tanya Chutkan.
Prosecutors say he was among the first wave of people to cross onto restricted Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, and he remained there for almost two hours while watching law enforcement attempt to repel the crowd. He went into the Capitol building with other Proud Boys. And, after he left, prosecutors say he tried to cover his trail by deleting his social media accounts and photographs and videos of himself and others at the Capitol.
Federal guidelines for the count call for 0 to six months jail time, and Finley’s lawyer is asking for the low end of that range.
Prosecutors are asking for three months in jail, 12 months of supervised release, 60 hours of community service, and $500 restitution.
“Such a sentence protects the community, promotes respect for the law, and deters future crime by imposing restrictions on his liberty as a consequence of his behavior, while recognizing his acceptance of responsibility,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
The mob storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 disrupted the constitutional duty of counting Electoral College votes and prompted the evacuations of representatives, senators and Vice President Mike Pence. One woman was fatally shot while trying to climb into the chambers, three others died from “medical emergencies” and more than 100 police officers were injured.
The story of how Jeffery Finley got there starts with his childhood, his lawyer wrote.
“The path he walked to that regrettable point on January 6, 2021, is winding,” Aaron Moss, a federal public defender in Martinsburg wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “It was formed through a whirlpool of his own emotions that obfuscated his deepest truths amid torturing uncertainties over questions of identity and where he fits in.
“Mr. Finley asks the Court to consider where he comes from and how his past shaped the mental and emotional conditions present in this case.”
Finley was born Sept. 30, 1992, in Misawa, Japan.
His mother, who is White, served in the United States Air Force as a combat photographer. His father, a Black man, also served in the U.S. Air Force. Finley never met his father and, his lawyer wrote, did not know the man’s identity until it came out in the background for his court case.
Between ages 3 and 13, Finley moved 10 times with his mother. His childhood was largely, his lawyer wrote, until he and his mother settled in West Virginia.
His troubles in school included bullying, racial taunts and more than 16 fights in the Hampshire County school system, his lawyer wrote. Finley wound up at Mountaineer Challenge Academy, which is a residential program for challenged teens.
All that history, his lawyer wrote, made Finley susceptible to the Proud Boys, which he joined in 2019.
“He also holds himself accountable for having been a Proud Boy. He accepts that his past as a Proud Boy may presently result in imprisonment. But he knows he can overcome that past,” his lawyer wrote. “This case has shown the Proud Boys as an inherently toxic organization.”
Finley responded to the Proud Boys call to turn out in Washington, D.C.
About a week before the siege of the U.S. Capitol, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio wrote on the social media site Parler that the Proud Boys would “turn out in record numbers on Jan 6th but this time with a twist … We will not be wearing our traditional Black and Yellow. We will be incognito and we will spread across downtown DC in smaller teams.”
On Dec. 30, 2020, Finley told other Proud Boys presidents that “Me and my WV boys are going.”
He traveled to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5, 2021, with one member of Finley’s Proud Boys chapter and that member’s spouse. About 1:33 p.m. Jan. 5, Finley joined an encrypted messaging group called “Boots on Ground.”
And on the morning of Jan. 6, Finley showed up at the Washington Monument, dressed as a “patriot,” in a blue suit and red hat along with a wired earpiece.
Investigators say he surged through a pedestrian gate and onto the Capitol grounds. By the time cell phone video captured his image again on the upper west terrace of the Capitol, Finley had put on a face covering with a skull design.
Finley entered a door on the west side of the Capitol building about 2:54 p.m., this time shown on security camera. He walked around the Capitol, took a photograph of himself near an office, then left the Capitol.
Shortly after 5 p.m., according to the federal filings, Finley posted a video message for other Proud Boys, describing with some profanity that he had taken pictures with his peers and that he was proud. He also described the security measures taking place, saying “we literally can’t get back in” and, with more profanity, “crazy, crazy lockdown. If you guys come out, you’re not getting back in. That’s 100 %.”
A few weeks after that, Jan. 19, Finley denied it all in an interview with an online media personality known as “Vaush.” Finley claimed, “I don’t know any Proud Boys who were even remotely close to being inside of the Capitol.”
Investigators corroborated the identification of Finley through a search warrant served on Google, revealing that a mobile device associated with Finley’s Gmail address was present at the Capitol that day. Similarly, a search warrant served on AT&T showed that Finley’s mobile phone pinged off a cell site that provides service for an area including the interior of the U.S. Capitol building.
Finley was arrested and charged in March, 2021.
He pleaded guilty in April, 2022.
He reported cutting ties with the Proud Boys in May, 2022.
Otherwise, prosecutors wrote, Finley has no criminal history. The prosecutors noted that, “Finley earned his GED in 2010 and reported periods of employment dating back to 2017. Finley resides with his mother, who formerly served in the U.S. Air Force and currently works for the government.”
Prosecutors concluded that, “In this case, Finley’s history and characteristics are the hardest to evaluate.
“Taken at his current word, he appears remorseful and prepared to commit to a law-abiding life. However, it is difficult to cancel out Finley’s actions on January 6 and enduring attempts to defend the reputation of his organization, members of which he knew had participated in criminal acts at the Capitol on January 6.”