Curious Plea Deals Afoot in Lancaster, PA

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The curious rumored plea deal of Lancaster, PA Jan6er Sam Lazar has a twin now in the curious plea deal of James Breheny.

Lazar, who is from Ephrata, PA, was arrested almost exactly two years ago on assault and civil disorder charges. But he was more notable for his moniker — FacePlantBlowhard — and his networking after the attack with politicians, including Doug Mastriano.

After an extended detention fight, nothing much happened in Lazar’s case. Then there was a year-long gap in the docket, followed by a notice of appearance of an AUSA who is handling some of the more important ongoing prosecutions.

Both Ryan Reilly and Lancaster Online’s Dan Nephin seem to have gotten tipped off to a sealed hearing on March 17 that was, reportedly, a plea hearing.

NBC News spotted Rebeca Lazar, Lazar’s sister who accompanied him to D.C. on Jan. 6, at the Washington D.C. federal courthouse, along with his family members. Lazar’s case was before Judge Amy Berman Jackson, according to the source. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But there’s still nothing on the docket.

James Breheny, who has ties to the Oath Keepers, was arrested even before Lazar, in May 2021. He was linked to the Oath Keepers by dint of being added to their comms the day of the attack and — more importantly — inviting Stewart Rhodes to a coordinating event in Quarryville, PA.

On December 21, 2020, BREHENY invited Rhodes to a leadership meeting of “multiple patriot groups” from the Mid-Atlantic states that was to take place in Quarryville, Pennsylvania on January 3, 2021. BREHENY forwarded Stewart Rhodes a message describing the purpose of the meeting, which was to prepare for a January 6 rally in Washington, DC. The message stated, “This will be the day we get our comms on point with multiple other patriot groups, share rally points etc. This one is important and I believe this is our last chance to organize before the show. This meeting will be for leaders only.” In inviting Rhodes to this meeting, BREHENY cautioned, “No cell phones. Need to be Faraday bag prior to site.”

Here’s Lancaster Online’s story on the meeting (which some participants disputed was focused exclusively on January 6):

On this particular Sunday afternoon – Jan. 3, 2021 – the topic was darker and much more urgent.

Members of so-called “patriot” and militia groups from across Pennsylvania and New Jersey strategized about how they would communicate with each other in the event of a major catastrophe. The failure of the electrical grid. An epic natural disaster. An armed clash with their own government.

Many in the room believed the collapse of American society was “inevitable,” that the American political process was broken.

Though Breheny was always treated as part of the Oath Keeper prosecution, he was never joined to one of the existing conspiracies. Instead, his case just kept getting continued every two months. Until, on June 6 — after almost all of the Oath Keepers were convicted and sentenced — Breheny pled guilty to one count of obstruction as part of a cooperation agreement.

There was no one obvious, at that point, to cooperate against.

And today, Judge Mehta set Breheny’s sentencing for February 23, not long after the other cooperating Oath Keepers, who’ll be sentenced in December and January.

There are a few other sleeper plea agreements I have watched. But these are nevertheless two of the most bewildering plea agreements of the twenty or so we’ve seen so far.

And both of them have a tie to the Lancaster, PA area.

Update: Added the piece on the January 3 meeting.

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14 replies
  1. gulageten says:

    There is a third Lancaster player, no? The one with known links to Russia. I believe the Observer reported about a house he had rented. Sorry it’s foggy in my memory.

  2. timbozone says:

    Re Feb 2020 as a possible investigation time for Smith, do you think this is likely to tie in with possible criminal conspiracy to deprive black voters et al? I know it’s very, very early in the publicly available information but it does seem that this might be one possible angle, especially given all the conflicting info about covid and mail in voting that started spewing from the White House in subsequent months all the way into the fall election of 2020.

    • emptywheel says:

      These pleas are likely unrelated. But if they’re not, it could be the Lancaster connection or it could be some riot planned in the state.

  3. L. A. Leonard says:

    CNN reports this week that one of the documents turned over by Bernie Kerick is associated with a letter sent by Doug Mastriano and other PA Republicans to Mitch McConnell in late Dec20 urging him not to certify the election results…so maybe Lazar and/or Breheny are being saved for the fake electors aspect of the J6 investigation instead of or additional to whatever else is going on with these curious plea deals. Or maybe I’m seeing conspiracy in one of the few areas where none exists!

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/24/politics/bernie-kerik-rudy-giuliani-special-counsel-documents/index.html

  4. Dutch Louis says:

    Maybe too much imagination on my side but the phrase “in the event of a major catastrophe” triggered me. First because it gives the impression the members of the gathering were expecting or prepared for such an event, second that the event was expected to be extremely disturbing and would probably lead to chaos and violence. And then the two pipe bombs came to mind again and I wondered if there is a connection with the person who ultimately decided to convene the leaders on that sunday afternoon. But as I said, maybe too much imagination or expectation on my side.

  5. Ravenclaw says:

    Am I thick? Probably, but I don’t see Breheny’s strong Lancaster (PA) connection. James Breheny is from Little Ferry, New Jersey (though the arrest record shows Woodland Park, about 12 miles away and in a different county) and was coordinator of the Oath Keepers’ Bergen County (NJ) chapter. Was definitely a bad actor, part of one of those quasi-military Stacks on 1/6/21. But maybe being present at (and supposedly not contributing to) one meeting (1/3/21) was a tenuous basis for a conspiracy charge. (Not sure why, since he seems to have been the one who called Rhodes to set up the meeting!) With regard to his “cooperation” agreement, have you a target in mind? If not, then maybe it’s part of an ongoing investigation of Oath Keepers (and whatever new organization former members may have found) that he agreed to facilitate?
    https://www.military.com/daily-news/***2023/06/06/navy-veteran-who-stormed-capitol-oath-keeper-pleads-guilty-felony-charge.html
    Above link broken with stars.

    • mickquinas says:

      What I wonder is whether we’ve become TOO focused on J6 and the rehearsals. Breheny’s plea deal might be related to J6 activity (obstruction) but his cooperation might be more about anti-(domestic)-terrorism efforts since then than the investigation into attempts to overthrow the results of the 2020 election.

      J6 might have been the starting point, but the value of Breheny and Lazar’s cooperation might have been forward facing. The attack on democracy is not over.

  6. Russ Walker says:

    Sam is sort of a “stop the steal” Zelig.
    There he was outside the PA Capitol on the day Scott Perry and Jim Jordan were there.
    There he was at the very first protest outside then-House Speaker Cutler’s office and home.
    There he was alongside the PBs when the first outer perimeter was breached on J6.
    Having watched and studied Sam for 2.5 years, I find it hard to believe he was anything more than a ready, willing and able guy — someone who worked for himself who could be relied on the show up wherever he was needed on short notice. But was he actually privy to whatever conspiratorial planning was going on? It doesn’t feel like it.
    It’s a mystery. I wonder if we’ll ever find out.

    • subtropolis says:

      That he “could be relied on [to] show up” is the point. Look at many of the other grifters and dopes who were a part of this. Pillow Guy obviously isn’t some evil genius, he was a cog in this infernal machine.

      The thing about gears and cogs, you see, is that they turn upon each other, both transmitting and receiving. It’s not at all unlikely that there are several people somewhat removed from the top echelons who can nonetheless provide useful testimony about how this thing went down.

    • emptywheel says:

      I think his network not his actions is important. That is, he would be interesting precisely for the messaging network that got him to all these places.

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