Federal Grand Jury Indicts Nine Cities Church Protesters Under 18 U.S.C. § 241 and FACE Act; Superseding Indictment Expands to 39 Defendants

A federal grand jury in the District of Minnesota returned an indictment on January 29, 2026 against nine participants in the January 18 protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, charging them under two federal statutes: 18 U.S.C. § 241 (Conspiracy Against Rights, the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan Act) and 18 U.S.C. § 248(a)(2) (the FACE Act’s religious-worship provision). On February 26, 2026, a superseding indictment expanded the defendant pool to 39 people. The case is United States v. Levy-Armstrong et al., Docket No. 0:26-cr-00025 (D. Minn.), assigned to District Judge Laura M. Provinzino with Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko.

What Happened / Key Facts

Docket: United States v. Levy-Armstrong et al., 0:26-cr-00025 (D. Minn.) Presiding judge: District Judge Laura M. Provinzino Magistrate judge: Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko Indictment filed: January 29, 2026 Superseding indictment: February 26, 2026 (unsealed February 27) Court: Warren E. Burger Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, St. Paul, Minnesota

Charges (both counts apply to all 39 defendants)

• Count 1 — Felony: 18 U.S.C. § 241, Conspiracy Against Rights (specifically: conspiracy against the right of religious freedom at a place of worship). This is the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, enacted by Reconstruction-era Congress to protect Black citizens against KKK violence. Maximum penalty: 10 years imprisonment.
• Count 2 — Misdemeanor: 18 U.S.C. § 248(a)(2), (b); § 2(a), Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act — religious-worship provision. Prohibits injuring, intimidating, or interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship. Maximum penalty: 1 year imprisonment and $10,000 fine.

Named Defendants (39 total in superseding indictment)

Original nine (indictment dated January 29, 2026):

1. Nekima Valdez Levy-Armstrong
2. Chauntyll Louisa Allen
3. William Scott Kelly
4. Don Renaldo Lemon
5. Jerome Deangelo Richardson
6. Jamael Lydell Lundy
7. Trahern Jeen Crews
8. Georgia Ellyse Fort
9. Ian Davis Austin

Additional 30 (added in superseding indictment, February 26, 2026): 10. Aziza Mohammed Aboud 11. Max Richard Adamson 12. Michael Walker Beute 13. Ezra Chaim Pye Blumenfeld 14. Shane Ryan Bollman 15. Kelly Ann Carey 16. Monique Cassandra Cullars-Doty 17. Tiffany Lynn Dunlap 18. Andrew Jared Edwards 19. Rachel Rose Goligoski 20. Amelia Cristin Hansa 21. Ariel Hauptman 22. Krista Erin Hogan 23. Heather Danielle Lewis (charges dismissed with prejudice March 23, 2026 — mistaken identity) 24. Danielle Andrea Matthias 25. Catie Anne Michaelson 26. Eric Ryan Michaelson 27. David Anthony Okar 28. Jarmel James Perry 29. Cheryl Ann Persigehl 30. Emmar Monike Pineda-Moreno 31. Spencer Michael Rodriguez-Bocanegra 32. Katherine Elizabeth Shaw 33. Satara Diann Strong-Allen 34. Charles Lee Swenson 35. Robyn Elise Swenson 36. Thomas Matthew Tier 37. Lee Elizabeth Wiedeman Tuggle 38. John Donald Vergin 39. Mark David Weinfurter

Key Procedural Dates

The Prosecution’s Theory and Legal Controversy

The indictment alleges the defendants engaged in a “coordinated takeover-style attack” during the January 18 service, organized under the name “Operation PullUp,” with a pre-event briefing at a St. Paul shopping center. The government alleges two defendants — Chauntyll Louisa Allen and Satara Diann Strong-Allen — conducted reconnaissance around Cities Church on January 17, took video of the area, and made preparations for the next day.

The indictment’s description of the January 18 events (approximately 10:30 a.m.) states the defendants “entered the Church in a coordinated takeover-style attack and engaged in acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction, forcing the pastor and congregation to terminate the Church’s worship service.”

Defense attorneys and legal experts, including former Civil Rights Division attorneys, challenged the charges from the outset. A magistrate judge had declined to approve Lemon’s initial arrest warrant for lack of evidence; a federal appeals court judge rejected the government’s appeal, writing there was “no evidence” of any criminal behavior in Lemon’s journalistic work. The DOJ proceeded with arrests anyway.

Former Civil Rights Division attorneys called the § 241 application constitutionally flawed, noting the statute has never previously been used to prosecute interference in a house of worship. The FACE Act application was similarly contested, as the statute was enacted in 1994 specifically to protect abortion clinic access.

Access Note — CourtListener

The CourtListener docket page is at https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72212459/united-states-v-levy-armstrong/ but returned HTTP 403 on direct WebFetch. The docket is indexed in RECAP; PACER subscription required for full document access. The parties page is at https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72213271/parties/united-states-v-levy-armstrong/ (also 403 on fetch). The indictment PDF is referenced at PBS NewsHour as “CASE-026-cr-00025-LMP-DLM.pdf” but requires PACER/RECAP retrieval for the full 14-page document.

Why This Event Matters

The prosecution inverts the historical purpose of both statutes deployed. The § 241 Conspiracy Against Rights statute was enacted by Reconstruction Congress specifically to prosecute KKK violence against Black people exercising civil rights. Its deployment here charges a Black civil rights attorney and ordained minister — Nekima Levy-Armstrong — with “conspiracy against religious freedom” for entering an ICE enforcement director’s church to ask a question about his dual role. The statute’s direction is precisely reversed.

The FACE Act inversion is equally structural. Congress passed the FACE Act in 1994 to protect abortion clinic access from anti-abortion protesters who blocked entrances. The Trump DOJ applied the same statute to protect an ICE enforcement director’s SBC church from civil rights protesters. The legal mechanism is identical; the political direction is opposite.

The case is also the first time the Justice Department has used either § 241 or § 248 to prosecute journalistic activity. Two defendants — Lemon and Fort — covered the protest as credentialed journalists explicitly identifying themselves as press. Both face the same felony conspiracy charge as participants.

Broader Context

Cities Church is a Southern Baptist Convention congregation in St. Paul planted in 2014–2015 from John Piper’s Bethlehem Baptist Church. One of its eight pastors, David Easterwood, serves simultaneously as Acting Field Office Director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in the five-state St. Paul jurisdiction (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska). Easterwood was not present during the January 18 service. The protest targeted the church specifically because of this dual role.

The same prosecution period saw zero federal charges for the ICE killing of Renee Good (January 7) and Alex Pretti (January 24) in Minneapolis, and no federal response to the 96 court orders ICE violated in Minnesota per Judge Patrick Schiltz’s January 28 ruling.

Separately, at least four states enacted laws in 2026 criminalizing disruption of worship services in direct response to the Cities Church protest, extending the case’s legal footprint beyond the federal prosecution.

Research Gaps

• Full text of the 14-page indictment (PACER/RECAP required for complete factual allegations)
• Full text of the superseding indictment (parties page 403 on fetch; PACER required)
• Current trial date (not yet set as of June 2026)
• Any motions to dismiss filed or ruled upon after May 2026
• Complete list of attorneys for all 39 defendants

Related Entries

• 2026-01-18–anti-ice-protesters-disrupt-st-paul-church-service
• 2026-01-30–doj-arrests-journalists-lemon-fort-church-protest
• easterwood-david
• levy-armstrong-nekima
• cities-church
• david-easterwood-cities-church-ice-pastor-scene-substrate-pack