Pam Bondi Announces Two More Arrests in Minnesota Church Invasion Case
The Trump administration announced two additional arrests on Monday tied to the January disruption of a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, by anti-ICE demonstrators, bringing the total number of defendants in the case to nine, as reported by The New York Post.
Attorney General Pam Bondi made the announcement on X, stating that Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson had been taken into custody in connection with what federal prosecutors describe as a coordinated attack on Cities Church during a Sunday service on Jan. 18.
“If you riot in a place of worship, we WILL find you,” Bondi wrote. “We have made two more arrests in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota: Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson.”
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The arrests follow last week’s indictment and arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who was detained Friday in Los Angeles while in town to cover the Grammy Awards.
Prosecutors allege Lemon, 59, “knowingly joined a mob to terrorize” congregants during the service. A judge later ordered Lemon released without bail or travel restrictions.
In addition to Lemon, Austin, and Richardson, a federal indictment unsealed Friday named Nekima Valdez Levy-Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, William Scott Kelly, Trahern Jeen Crews, Jamael Lydell Lundy, and Georgia Ellyse Fort, an award-winning journalist.
All nine defendants are charged with conspiracy against rights and interfering with the free exercise of religion by allegedly seeking “to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate multiple persons, including the clergy, staff, and congregants of the Cities Church,” according to the 14-page indictment.
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Federal prosecutors say Allen, Levy-Armstrong, and Kelly are local Black Lives Matter leaders who gathered outside the church before entering the building with Lemon and other demonstrators. Once inside the sanctuary, the group chanted “ICE out” and accused church pastor David Easterwood of assisting federal immigration enforcement operations under President Donald Trump.