Feds arrest self-described ‘Proud Boy’ in Queens after online threats made against Capitol

Federal authorities on Tuesday night arrested a self-described Proud Boys member in Queens, searching his home after he made online threats about traveling to D.C. after the siege on the U.S. Capitol, according to law enforcement sources.

Police conduct an investigation on 76th St. near Eliot Ave. in Queens on Tuesday night.
Police conduct an investigation on 76th St. near Eliot Ave. in Queens on Tuesday night. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)

Police and federal officials descended on a home on 76th St. at Eliot Ave. in Middle Village.

A law enforcement source said the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Eduard Florea, 40, on a weapons-possession charge.

Florea has allegedly threatened to kill people in the past, and made several online threats against liberal politicians and government agencies, the source said. He’s also been busted before, in 2014, when a search of his home turned up a cache of weapons, the source said.

“It’s a very big deal in the current environment,” the source said.

Investigators don’t believe Florea took part in last Wednesday’s deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol, though some of his online remarks discussed taking an armed caravan to D.C., law enforcement sources told NBC New York.

Florea was taken to FBI headquarters in Manhattan, and is expected to be charged in federal court, sources said.

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