ANDY NGO REPORTS: Portland Antifa 'journalist' charged with felony robbery, assault

Update: At Alissa Azar's arraignment on Wednesday afternoon, Multnomah County prosecutors asked for a $50,000 bond given her violent criminal history. It is also confirmed the case stems from a violent robbery of a journalist in August, as TPM reported. Original article below. 

On Tuesday evening, Portland Antifa member Alissa Eleanor Azar was arrested and charged with multiple felonies in connection to a violent robbery.

Azar was charged with Robbery II, a class B felony; Robbery III, a class C felony; Theft II, a class A misdemeanor; Assault III, a class C felony; and tampering with physical evidence, a class A misdemeanor.

Portland Police declined to disclose details about Azar's arrest, but independent journalist and TPM contributor Chelly Bouferrache witnessed an incident in downtown Portland on Aug. 27 that the charges may stem from. She says Azar was part of a group of masked Antifa members who violently confronted street preachers in front of the Saturday market. A live streamer recording the incident was then assaulted and robbed. Antifa routinely attack and steal property from journalists documenting their activities in public.

"[The videographer] got jumped by some Antifa in masks and dropped his phone which landed between my feet," Bouferrache told TPM. "As I reached down to grab it Alissa Azar snatched it up and refused to give it back when I asked for it. Then she walked off with it."

Last month, Azar revealed she lost custody of her child after a court heard she had endangered her child through her violent extremist activities. In a Mastodon post, Azar said that "their arguments were all revolving around my involvement with antifascism and my criminal trial, with a sprinkle of misogyny."

Azar had previously posted on Twitter a screenshot of a message her son's father sent her asking her to cease her sex work. Azar runs an OnlyFans account where she reportedly earns thousands a month.

In 2021, Azar was charged with felony riot, two misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct in the second degree, and unlawful use of stun gun, tear gas or mace in the second degree in connection to a June 2021 violent direct action by Portland Antifa. The criminal trial for that case is scheduled in Clackamas County in April 2023.

She had also been arrested in March 2021 and charged for her role in an Antifa riot, but her case was dropped by district attorney Mike Schmidt at the time.