The organizer of Boston’s “Straight Pride Parade” and a member of the Natick Town rally – both staunch President Trump supporters – are the latest to be arrested for their role in the US Capitol uprising earlier this month. , said federal officials.
According to the FBI, Mark Sahady (46) of Malden and Suzanne Ianni (59) of Natick were arrested.
Both are facing charges of disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and the illegal entry or residence in the U.S. Capitol building on January 6 when Congress met to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.
Both are expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Boston later that day.
Sahady is a founder and vice president of the anti-LGBTQ Super Happy Fun America, known for his march “Straight Pride” in Boston in 2019. According to FBI documents, Ianni also had ties to the group and he helped organize buses that drove hundreds. of Trump supporters from Massachusetts to Washington, DC, before the violence there.
The group claims to be a proponent of the ‘straight community’, according to its website and carries the motto ‘It’s great to be straight’.
Photos posted on social media show the couple together inside and outside the U.S. Capitol building, about the time a violent mob stormed the building, according to FBI documents.
In a Jan. 5 message on the group’s Facebook page, Ianni and Sahady, according to FBI records, are pictured on one of the buses with about half a dozen other people with a thumbs up. The photo is captioned: “Bus 1 of 11 is coming to Washington DC. See you there!”
According to Ianni, Ianni apparently boasted to a local newspaper that she was the “main organizer” for the buses. Her LinkedIn account identifies her as a board member for Massachusetts Women for Trump.
Ianni is also mentioned as a contact person in a January 4 Facebook post from the account ‘New England for Trump’ advertising the Super Happy Fun America trip to Washington, DC, ‘before a joint session of Congress with state voters on January 6th. ”
Sahady’s Twitter account was filled with ‘multiple statements’ claiming that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and that a call for supporters should meet in DC to respond on January 6 to send a message, the documents read. of the charge.
Police departments Malden and Natick assisted the FBI in arresting the individuals.
The FBI tipping line for the deadly Capitol uprising has been flooded with calls since January 6, several of which have identified the Sahady and Ianni. A MetroWest Daily News report also identified the pair in photos.
Social media places several other Massachusetts residents, including Therese Duke of Charlton, in Washington, DC, around the time of the failed uprising, but Ianni and Sahady are the first Bay Staters to be arrested by federal authorities.
A Pittsfield man, David L. Ross, 33, of Winter St. 10, was arrested on Jan. 6 by the Metropolitan Police Department and charged with unlawful entry and violating the curfew imposed that evening in Washington, DC.
Duke was fired from her job at the UMass Memorial, but claims she was nowhere near the Capitol when a violent mob stormed the building during a siege that left five people dead.
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