ORLANDO, Fla. — Two former Central Florida cops with ties to the far-right Proud Boys pleaded guilty Friday for their roles in the 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Kevin and Nathaniel Tuck — who are father, 52, and son, 32, and worked for the Windermere and Apopka police departments, respectively — both admitted to entering a restricted building on Jan. 6, 2021, when swarms of supporters of then-President Donald Trump invaded the Capitol complex to stop the certification of the 2020 election. The mob was motivated by Trump’s false claims that the election was rigged against him.

They both pleaded guilty to charges that carry a maximum one-year federal prison sentence. The younger Tuck could face up to an additional five years in prison after admitting to a charge of civil disorder. Both men are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 8 — two days after the fourth anniversary of the attack.

According to federal court documents detailing the Tucks’ actions, the father-and-son duo talked about what to do in light of Joe Biden winning the 2020 election. Within two weeks of the election being called for Biden, Nathaniel Tuck bought a plane ticket to Washington, D.C., and booked a hotel. The move caused a rift with his wife, a cop with the Longwood Police Department.

“So my wife just found out that I bought my flight and hotel to DC. She’s not speaking to me,” Nathaniel Tuck, according to court documents, told a group chat of local Proud Boys. “I’m sure Martha Washington was always mad at George.”

The Tucks were later added to a group chat of the Proud Boys’ so-called Ministry of Self-Defense hosted on the text-messaging app Telegram, where prosecutors documented how Proud Boys planned the Capitol attack and spoke openly about violently forcing Trump back into the presidency.

Kevin Tuck later told investigators his son was a leader in the “Space Coast” branch of the Proud Boys based in Orlando while he was an Apopka police officer. Kevin Tuck rejoined the organization ahead of the J6 riot after “a brief period away from the group,” according to prosecutors.

The pair apparently were at odds at one point in the group chat, as it appeared Kevin Tuck attempted to soften the Proud Boys’ stance on battling law enforcement at the Capitol.

In a text documented in court records, Nathaniel Tuck told his father Dec. 14, 2020, “You’re not going to convince anyone to support the police. It doesn’t matter if the cops like us, they’ll still arrest us. They’ll still be the arm of the leftist government if they’re told to.”

The elder Tuck said, “Agreed but we can’t make them our enemy.” His son replied, “They will be one day.”

The day of the riot, the Tucks — along with Arthur Jackman, then a vice president of the Orlando-based Proud Boys chapter who pleaded guilty for his role last week — followed a crowd into the Capitol as they tried pushing past a police barricade overwhelmed by rioters. Nathaniel Tuck made it through while his father was repelled by police, prosecutors said.

Once inside, he and Jackman made it to the Senate gallery, where they stayed for several minutes before leaving the room and later the building. They also stole an American flag, with which they took a photo along with other Proud Boys members to commemorate the riot. That photo and others were included in court records as evidence against the Tucks.

“We stormed the Capitol, fought the police,” Kevin Tuck allegedly wrote to his family. “ … We took the flag. It’s our flag.”

Along with entering a restricted building, the Tucks were charged in part with disorderly conduct and assaulting police officers, which will be dropped — except for Nathaniel Tuck’s civil disorder charge — as part of their plea agreements. They also were charged with obstructing an official proceeding, which was dropped after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling forced prosecutors to prove defendants charged with obstruction tried to tamper with or destroy documents.

Along with Jackman and other Proud Boys leaders, the Tucks were further named in a lawsuit by the U.S. government as part of a broader legal battle with the Proud Boys.

Their arrests came as a shock, as both were known police officers while Kevin Tuck also served as a senior pastor at Lighthouse Church in Apopka. Nathaniel Tuck resigned from the Apopka Police Department months before the riot, last serving as a reserve officer, according to the agency.

Kevin Tuck joined the Windermere Police Department in May 2019 and resigned after his arrest. At the time, Chief David Ogden said in a statement he was “disheartened” by the arrest.

Ogden further stated the arrest was the result of a fellow officer raising concerns about Kevin Tuck, prompting the agency to contact the FBI. At the time, federal authorities said they had no indication Kevin Tuck had been inside the Capitol that day — and he’d denied entering the building.

But according to court records, the Tucks texted each other about possibly being identified after the arrest of Joe Biggs, a Florida-based organizer of the Proud Boys, who in August 2023 was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges. Kevin Tuck, records indicate, was worried about Biggs identifying him, to which his son replied, “Only way is if Biggs identifies you, but he is not a snitch.”

Other texts from March 2021, about four months before they were arrested, show they talked about how they believed federal prosecutors were “overcharging” fellow Proud Boys.

“Politics won’t save us. Violence is the only way we will win,” Kevin Tuck told his son.

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