PORTLAND — Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, a member of the Proud Boys and fixture of right-wing demonstrations that have often led to bloody brawls in Portland and other cities, was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.
Toese, a Vancouver-area resident, landed behind bars on a probation violation several days after he was spotted walking among self-described anti-Marxist demonstrators in Portland on Aug. 22.
He had previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge in January that stemmed from a 2018 beating in Northeast Portland.
Circuit Judge Kathleen Dailey barred Toese, 24, from attending Portland protests for two years in that case and ordered him to pay $1,800 to Timothy Ledwith, the man he and an associate attacked.
At the time, Toese claimed he was done with politics and protests.
“There’s no more ‘Tiny.’ There’s no more ‘Big Boy Tiny.’ No more ‘Samoan Prowler’ in the streets,” he said in January.
Dailey on Tuesday found Toese had willfully violated multiple conditions of his probation and sentenced him to six months in jail, including credit for time served.
Multnomah County prosecutor Nathan Vasquez had asked the judge to impose a one-year sentence, the maximum penalty for the violation, court records show.
Toese, who jail records say is 6-foot-5 and more than 300 pounds, gained notoriety as a member of the Proud Boys, and at one time Patriot Prayer, another right-wing group. He frequently fought and clashed with left-wing activists during street protests in Portland.
Toese served as one of Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson’s closest confidants until the duo had a falling out.
A grand jury had indicted Toese and fellow Proud Boy Donovan Flippo in February 2019, eight months after the attack on Ledwith.
Toese left for his hometown in American Samoa around the time prosecutors filed the criminal charges. Flippo pleaded guilty over the summer to fourth-degree assault and served eight days in jail.
Toese was arrested in the beating case Oct. 4, 2019, at Portland International Airport as he was returning to the United States mainland.
Later that month, he was jailed for 10 days in Multnomah County after he violated his probation on a harassment conviction stemming from a fight at a December 2017 demonstration in downtown Portland.
