MO man set for trial in Jan. 6 case had ties to KC-area Proud Boys, court filing shows

A southeast Missouri man whose Capitol riot trial is set to start next month had ties to the Kansas City-area Proud Boys, a new federal court filing indicates.

Nicholas Kennedy, of Sikeston, who faces three felony charges and four misdemeanor counts stemming from his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, was in contact with William Chrestman, of the Kansas City Proud Boys chapter, on the day of the riot and afterward, according to a document the Justice Department filed in the case last week.

Chrestman, considered by the government to be a key player in the Capitol breach, threatened a federal officer and carried an ax handle into the Capitol on Jan. 6. He was indicted in February 2021 along with three other Kansas City-area Proud Boys and two Arizona siblings. He pleaded guilty in October and was sentenced in January to 55 months in prison.

Kennedy’s upcoming jury trial, scheduled to begin April 8 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, comes nearly three years after his arrest.

The new court filing describes the facts of the case that Kennedy and the government agree and “stipulate” to, which means that the court may accept them “as if they had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.”

Among the items are trial exhibits showing “a string of messages exchanged on the Telegram application” between Kennedy and Chrestman that the document says were originally obtained from Chrestman’s cellphone.

Other exhibits the government’s document lists are “authentic copies of two videos of Kennedy that were sent by Kennedy to Chrestman via the encrypted application Telegram on January 10, 2021,” and “an authentic copy of a photograph of Kennedy, Chrestman and others that was taken on January 6, 2021, at approximately 12:42 p.m. eastern.”

Also listed are “authentic copies of four videos that were recovered from William Chrestman’s phone that were taken on January 6, 2021…”

According to court records in Chrestman’s case, authorities found his cellphone in his young daughter’s dresser drawer during a search of his Olathe home in February 2021.

The new government filing in Kennedy’s case also lists as a trial exhibit a copy of a contact for Chrestman that was saved in Kennedy’s cellphone. The phone number in the filing is the same number The Star called — and Chrestman answered — on three occasions after the Capitol riot and prior to his arrest. Chrestman told The Star at the time that he could not comment.

The document includes several photos of Kennedy. In two — one taken inside the Capitol and one outside — he is flashing a hand gesture that commonly signals “OK” but has been co-opted by the Proud Boys and other far-right groups to signify “white power.”

Since Kennedy’s arrest in July 2021, few details have been available about his actions on Jan. 6. Because he was first indicted by a grand jury, there was no “statement of facts” accompanying a criminal complaint as there was in most of the Capitol riot cases. And Kennedy’s name has never appeared on the Justice Department’s website listing the defendants in the Capitol breach cases.

Online sleuths who have gathered evidence that has helped authorities identify many rioters have questioned the lack of information about Kennedy’s case, with some speculating that he was a key player in the investigation. They dubbed Kennedy #RWDSStooge because of the initials RWDS on the ball cap he was wearing in photos and videos from Jan. 6.

RWDS is an acronym for Right Wing Death Squad, a phrase dating back to the 1970s that has been co-opted in recent years by far-right extremists — including the Proud Boys — to express opposition to the left.

The new court filing said Kennedy was on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, and entered the building at about 2:13 p.m. He exited about 3:01 p.m., it said.

The document said Kennedy wore a dark baseball cap with the letters RWDS in red lettering on the left side and a strip of bright orange tape on the right side. He also wore a blue Carhartt-style jacket, dark shirt and neck covering and tan cargo pants, it said.

The Kansas City-area Proud Boys wore orange reflective tape that day, prosecutors have said, as a way to identify themselves in the crowd.

Kennedy was indicted by the federal grand jury on July 23, 2021, on felony charges of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding and misdemeanor counts of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

He was arrested on July 28, 2021, and released on a personal recognizance bond. A second superseding indictment handed down in February added a felony charge of tampering with records, documents or other objects.

The Proud Boys is an organization of self-described “Western chauvinists” known for street-level violence and confrontations with anti-fascists at protests. Its members played a pivotal role in the attack on the Capitol, overwhelming police and breaking windows to let throngs of supporters of then-President Donald Trump into the building.

After the riot, authorities rounded up dozens of Proud Boys from around the country on charges including assault of law enforcement officers, civil disorder and sedition.