Four California men tied to militia accused of destroying evidence in federal shooting probe

Four men believed to have ties to a far-right militia group were indicted on charges of destroying evidence in a federal investigation over the shootings of two police officers.

The Justice Department announced Friday that Jessie Alexander Rush, 29, Robert Jesus Blancas, 33, Simon Sage Ybarra, 23, and Kenny Matthew Miksch, 21 were charged with conspiracy to destroy records, destruction of records and obstruction of official proceedings.

Prosecutors allege the four men are members of the far-right extremist “Grizzly” militia, which has ties to the “boogaloo” movement, which advocates for a politically-motivated civil war or uprising against the government.

The indictment against the four men references two shootings, one on May 29, 2020 and one days later on June 6. Two federal Protective Security Officers (PSOs) where shot in the first incident, in which one of the PSOs died, and two Santa Cruz sheriff’s deputies were shot in the second incident. One deputy also died in the second shooting.

The indictment says U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo, a member of the Grizzly Scouts, texted a WhatsApp group with other Grizzly Scouts saying he was going to fire at law enforcement.

“Dudes i offed a fed,” authorities said Carrillo texted just before the Santa Cruz shooting.

Rush then instructed the members of the group to scrub the evidence of the text from their phones.

Subsequently, “Blancas deleted files related to the Grizzly Scouts from a Dropbox account. Further, within hours of the shooting, members of the Grizzly Scouts including Rush, Blancas, Ybarra, and Miksch allegedly began to reconnect on an alternative communications application,” the DOJ said. 

The DOJ also said “the four defendants each deleted records of the WhatsApp group communications from their phones, including the prior discussions regarding violence against law enforcement.”

The four men each face a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.