SPOKANE — Four members of the white supremacist organization Patriot Front appeared before a Kootenai County judge on Monday on charges of criminal conspiracy to riot.
James J. Johnson, 36, of Concrete, Washington; Spencer Thomas Simpson, 20, of Ellensburg; Devin Wayne Center, 22, of Fayeteville, Arkansas; and Lawrence A. Norman, 32, of Prospect, Oregon, all pleaded not guilty.
Simpson was the only one to appear in person on Monday. The others appeared virtually.
The four men were arrested in June along with 27 others when North Idaho law enforcement discovered them packed into the back of a U-Haul truck equipped with riot gear and a smoke grenade, among other items, apparently on their way to a Pride celebration that had been the focus of far-right ire for at least a month.