Eva Marie Uzcategui Trinkl/Anadolu Agency via Getty
- A Proud Boys leader bragged about burning a stolen BLM flag during a pro-Trump rally last December.
- Henry "Enrique" Tarrio was sentenced to over five months in jail over the incident on Monday.
- "It's pretty simple. I'm guilty," Tarrio told Insider in July.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Proud Boys leader Henry "Enrique" Tarrio was sentenced to more than five months in jail after admitting that he burned a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a historic Black Church in Washington DC, federal prosecutors announced on Monday.
On July 19, Tarrio pleaded guilty to burning the banner, which was taken from the Asbury United Methodist Church during a December 12 rally. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail for one count of destruction of property.
He also pleaded guilty to one count of attempted possession of a large-capacity ammunition magazine, which was discovered when authorities stopped him on January 4 because of a search warrant tied to the banner burning case. He was sentenced to 150 days in jail for that.
On Monday, a judge suspended a portion of the sentence except for 155 days, roughly a little more than five months, on the condition that Tarrio complete three years of probation. He also must pay $1,000 in fines and $347 in restitution to the church.
His sentence begins in two weeks, authorities said.
Prosecutors said members of the Proud Boys stole the flag from the church and walked away. They later used lighter fluid and lighters to burn it. Tarrio posted a photo of himself holding an unlit lighter near ignited lighters, federal prosecutors said.
"It's pretty simple. I'm guilty," Tarrio told Insider's Azmi Haroun and Haven Orecchio-Egresitz in July.
Tarrio told Insider that he burned the flag because he opposed what Black Lives Matter stood for but he didn't consider it a hate crime.
"I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have burned the banner, but I'm just explaining why I did it," he told Insider.
NBC News reported that during a court hearing on Monday, prosecutors said burning the banner "had profound emotional and psychological effect upon the church and its members."
Rev. Dr. Ianther Mills, a senior pastor at the church said the behavior was "an act of intimidation and racism."