“[I said,] ‘You need to make a choice. You need to choose between this group and your family.’ And he said, ‘I can't quit them.’ And I said, ‘Well, then that's your choice. You need to pack your stuff and get out of my house,'" Karen Amsden said.
One of the 31 accused neo-Nazis arrested near an Idaho gay pride parade is getting some tough love — from his own mother.
When Karen Amsden saw the shocking video of the Patriot Front members bunched together in a U-Haul, then taken into custody for allegedly plotting to cause chaos at the event, she had a sinking feeling.
“I just knew when I saw that, that Jared was a part of it,” Amsden said.
Even with their faces covered, she says she could identify her son, 27-year-old Jared Michael Boyce.
“I was able to spot him, even with the balaclava on his face. I knew it was him,” Amsden said.
Amsden was aware of his involvement with the hate group.
“I just was flabbergasted and disappointed and couldn't believe that my child would believe this crap,” Amsden said.
After his arrest, she gave him an ultimatum.
“[I said,] ‘You need to make a choice. You need to choose between this group and your family.’ And he said, ‘I can't quit them.’ And I said, ‘Well, then that's your choice. You need to pack your stuff and get out of my house.’"
Boyce, along with all the others, was released on bail, which was posted by a mysterious and unidentified benefactor.
Boyce is back home now, but Amsden says he's expected to leave in a few days. She says he's told her he won't participate in any Patriot Front events until then.
“I think he will keep his word not to do anything with them while he's at my house. I think that as soon as he can get out of the house, he'll be right back in it with them."
Amsden got tearful talking about Boyce's two young sons.
“I feel strongly I need to be in my grandkids' lives, to kind of help guide them away from some of this extremism that he brings into their life,” Amsden said.
