A man accused of being linked to the far-right “boogaloo” movement, accused of conspiring to provoke violence in the Las Vegas protests, has now been charged with having child pornography, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Stephen Parshall, 35, also known as “Kiwi,” was charged with one count of child sexual exploitation after investigators allegedly found 10 images of child pornography and other material on his cell phone, the US Attorney said for the Nevada District in a sentence
Parshall was one of three people, all of whom are allegedly members of the “boogaloo” movement, accused of trying to explode protests in Las Vegas in late May, after the death of George Floyd, with a plan to incite violence.
Requests for comment from an attorney listed as Parshall’s representative were not immediately answered Wednesday night.
The “boogaloo” movement has been described by prosecutors as a term used by extremists to mean an upcoming civil war and / or collapse of society.
In early June, federal and state authorities charged three men with suspected ties to the movement, including Parshall, and charged them with a conspiracy to cause violence during the May protests in Las Vegas, the federal prosecutor’s office said.
The plot was foiled with the help of an informant, officials said at the time.
It was after the arrests that investigators executed search warrants and found the images on Parshall’s cell phone, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.
Parshall, from Las Vegas, is being held in prison. If convicted of the new charge of sexual exploitation of children, the minimum sentence is 15 years in prison and the maximum is 30 years, prosecutors said.
The indictment documents related to the protest alleged that the men planned to use explosions to provoke a revolt, and ultimately settled on a plan to go to a Black Lives Matter protest with Molotov cocktails. The three men were arrested before it could be carried out, according to the documents.
All three had attended a previous protest in Las Vegas, carrying rifles, and Parshall allegedly encouraged protesters to become violent and was “very angry” when the event did not turn out that way, according to court documents.
Parshall pleaded not guilty in the protest-related case. In June, a judge ordered his detention in custody until trial, according to federal court records online.
