Summer Stephan first D.A. to take on Antifa

On December 6 San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan announced felony conspiracy charges against eleven alleged Antifa militants. The DA blames Antifa for the January 9 Pacific Beach attacks against pedestrians on the boardwalk and nearby streets, followed by attacks against police officers on Mission Boulevard.

According to a DA press release, affiliates of Antifa from San Diego and Los Angeles planned to commit violence against Trump supporters at their “Patriot March” eleven months ago in Pacific Beach. “On at least eight separate occasions, approximately 15 to 20 members from the counter protesting group (Antifa-affiliated) broke off and surrounded perceived members of the Patriot March group and attacked them using impact weapons and mace. At present, there are 16 known victims.” One victim was a minor who suffered a concussion.

Additional victims include “a dog that was maced, a journalist attempting to take photos, a business that was vandalized, and assaults on police officers. Video evidence analysis shows that overwhelmingly the violence in this incident was perpetrated by the Antifa affiliates and was not a mutual fray…”

According to the criminal complaint, “Antifa is known to use force, fear, and violence to further their own interests and to suppress the interests of others. This tactic is referred to as ‘Direct Action’ and is known to mean acts of violence such as assault, battery, assault with deadly weapons, arson, and vandalism.”

The 24-count complaint describes the attacks of eleven defendants and multiple unknown co-conspirators. Charged with conspiracy to riot from the San Diego faction are: Jesse Merel Cannon, 31, Alexander Akridge-Jacobs, 31, Joseph Austin Gaskins aka Austin Joseph, 21, and Erich Louis Yach, 37. Yach is the only defendant with an outstanding arrest warrant.

Charged with conspiracy to riot from the Los Angeles faction are: Jeremy Jonathan Ross White, 39, Brian Lightfoot, 25, Christian Martinez, 23, Luis Francisco Mora, 30, Bryan Rivera, 20, and Faraz Martin Talab, 27. Newsweek reported that defendant Samuel Howard Ogden, 24, is from Washington state.

In February I reported the details of Antifa’s attacks from eyewitnesses, victims and an abundance of video recordings. Jeremy White is alleged to be the perpetrator who bear-sprayed a dog and is charged with animal cruelty.

Brian Lightfoot is alleged to have hit the photographer featured in my previous story on his back with a wooden staff and has been charged with two counts of assault with deadly weapon and six counts of using tear gas not in self-defense.

Jesse Cannon is alleged to be the person who threw a chair at the back of the woman the mob attacked and beat on the ground. He is charged with two counts of assault with deadly weapon. He, Mora, Yach and Rivera are charged with assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury. Rivera is alleged to have inflicted great bodily injury on a victim.

For the second time the San Diego Union Tribune published a photo of the woman the Antifa mob beat to the ground and again failed to indicate in their caption that a mob was attacking a woman. As they did earlier this year, the U-T described it as “counterprotesters fight with a woman."

Newsweek reported Summer Stephan is the first prosecutor in the nation to attempt to “break up a network of alleged violent antifa cells.” And Newsweek reported a twelfth alleged Antifa attacker, Jonah Abraham Bigel, had already been charged for his role in the riot earlier this year.