By Associated Press - Tuesday, June 9, 2020

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Las Vegas judge called an accused leader of a plot to spark violence during recent Las Vegas protests by firebombing an electric power substation a threat to public safety and refused to reduce his $1 million bail.

Evidence against Stephen Parshall is “overwhelming,” Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan said Tuesday, and a prosecutor called the 35-year-old Las Vegas man an extreme danger to the community, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported .

Parshall’s co-defendants Andrew Lynam, 23, and William Loomis, 43, also are being held on $1 million bail. Each is due in federal court June 15 and local court June 17.

They were arrested May 30 while allegedly filling gasoline-and-glass-bottle firebombs on the way to a protest of the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes.

Documents filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas tie the three men to the right-wing extremist “boogaloo” movement, a loosely organized internet-rooted network of gun enthusiasts expressing support for overthrowing the U.S. government.

Parshall’s attorney, Robert Draskovich, said his client intends to plead not guilty and questioned accounts of a confidential police informant in the case.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.