Department of Justice Seal Department of Justice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2003
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
CRT
(202) 514-2008
TDD (202) 514-1888

FACT SHEET:
CIVIL RIGHTS ACCOMPLISHMENTS


SUCCESSFULLY RESOLVING AND INVESTIGATING ALLEGATIONS AGAINST POLICE DEPARTMENTS BY TAKING A COOPERATIVE APPROACH:

COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING AS A TOP PRIORITY:

ACTIVELY PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF INSTITUTIONALIZED PERSONS:

WORKING TO CLOSE THE EDUCATION GAP:

REMOVING BARRIERS TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES THROUGH INNOVATIVE APPROACHES:

ENSURING EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES:

1) On June 30, 2003, the Division resolved a lawsuit against the University of Guam in which it was alleged that the University discriminated against eleven former employees on the basis of their race and national origin. The alleged victims of unlawful discrimination were Filipino American, African American, American Indian and Caucasian. In addition to injunctive relief, the Division obtained $775,000 in monetary relief for the individuals;

2) In January of 2003, the Division successfully settled a racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a total of $455,000 in victim's compensatory damages. The lawsuit alleged that the city of Fort Lauderdale violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by denying an African-American employee, Elgin O. Jones, promotion to the position of Engineering Inspector I because of his race. The lawsuit further alleged that the city retaliated against Mr. Jones when he complained that he had been denied promotion for discriminatory reasons;

3) In February of 2003, the Division settled an employment discrimination lawsuit filed against the New Mexico Regional Solid Waste Authority. The Division alleged that the Waste Authority discriminated against women, Hispanics and Native Americans, by permitting racial and sexual harassment. The Division obtained $148,000 in monetary relief for four victims of alleged sexual and racial harassment, as well as changes to the employer's employment policies;

4) In 2001, the Division obtained a supplemental consent order in the Milwaukee Fire Department case where the Division secured $1.8 million in back pay and 40 jobs for African-American victims of hiring discrimination; and

5) The Division obtained a settlement with the City of Newark regarding a case involving religious discrimination directed at Muslim police officers.

ACTIVELY PROTECTING HOUSING, CREDIT, AND PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION RIGHTS:

1) Examples of significant victories include a $451,208 verdict against a landlord in Mississippi who sexually harassed a number of his female tenants; a consent decree that provides for $300,000 in damages and civil penalties against the owner of a mobile home park in Kansas who sexually harassed female tenants, many of whom were the wives of men stationed at the nearby army base; a settlement agreement with the owners of a Virginia club that denied access to a Sikh Muslim man on the same basis as white, non-Muslim patrons; and two consent decrees against nightclub owners in Kansas and Alabama who denied black patrons access to the clubs on the same basis as whites.

2) Another significant victory was a recent consent decree providing for more than $700,000 in retrofitting, damages, and civil penalties against defendants in Kansas who violated the requirement that new multi-family housing be designed and constructed in a manner accessible to persons with disabilities.

ENGAGING IN PROSECUTIONS AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES IN RESPONSE TO THE TERRORIST ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11TH:

1) For example, on August 23, 2002, in the Middle District of Florida, the United States filed a criminal complaint against Robert Goldstein under 26 U.S.C. 5861 and 18 U.S.C. 844(i) for plotting to destroy the Islamic Center of St Petersburg, Florida. On April 3, 2003, Robert Goldstein pled guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. 241, 844(i) and 26 U.S.C. 5861. Goldstein's wife, Kristi Goldstein, pled guilty to violating 26 U.S.C. 5861 on February 26, 2003 and was sentenced to 37 months incarceration on June 13, 2003. Michael Hardee pled guilty on October 9, 2002 to a civil rights conspiracy in violation 18 U.S.C. 241 for his role as driver in the plot and on May 1, 2003, Hardee was sentenced to 41 months in prison and fined $10,000. A fourth defendant, Val Shannahan, was arrested on September 26, 2002 and charged with one count of violating 26 U.S.C. §5861. Shannahan pled guilty to the charge on April 16, 2003.

2) On December 12, 2001, in the Central District of California, the United States filed a criminal complaint against Irving David Rubin and Earl Leslie Krugel pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 371, 844, and 924 for conspiring to damage and destroy, by means of an explosive, the King Fahd mosque and for possessing an explosive bomb to carry out the conspiracy. On January 10, 2002, Rubin and Krugel were indicted under 18 U.S.C. 371, 2332, 844, 924, 373, 922, and 5861, which additionally included charges related to the defendants' alleged attempts to damage and destroy, by means of an explosive, the office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the district office of U.S. Representative Darrell Issa. On November 13, 2002, Rubin died from self-inflicted wounds while incarcerated. Krugel pled guilty.

PROSECUTING BIAS-MOTIVATED CRIMES AND CRIMINAL DEPRIVATIONS OF CIVIL RIGHTS:

1) U.S. v. Waldon, et al. (M.D. FL) On January 27, 2003, defendant Karl T. Waldon, a deputy sheriff with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department, was sentenced to multiple terms of life imprisonment after his convictions for various civil rights and obstruction charges. As one example, Waldon knew from a co-conspirator that Sami Safar, a Jacksonville convenience store owner, would be carrying a large amount of cash. While in uniform and driving his marked police car, Waldon turned on his emergency lights and pulled over Mr. Safar. Waldon then handcuffed Safar, placed him in the back of the police car, drove him to an isolated location, strangled him with a rope, dumped the body in a wooded area, and stole the $50,000 carried by the victim. Waldon conspired with other deputy sheriffs and civilians to commit this murder as well as other robberies, burglaries, thefts and drug offenses against residents of the Jacksonville area. Three other deputy sheriffs and three civilians have also pled guilty to various charges in this case.

1) On February 28, 2003, the Division secured a conviction against Ernest Henry Avants for aiding and abetting in the 1966 murder of Ben Chester White, an elderly African American farm worker in Mississippi who, because of the victim’s race and efforts to bring the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. to the area, was lured into a national forest and shot multiple times including a shotgun blast to his head.

2) On February 6, 2003, four defendants, including two members of the Imperial Klan of America, pled guilty to criminal civil rights charges in Kentucky for a series of racially motivated acts of violence directed against an African American family. The defendants repeatedly hurled racial epithets at the family while breaking windows and smashing a porch light with a baseball bat. Additionally, the defendants attacked one of the teenage children, severely beating him when he went outside to investigate two broken windows at his home.

3) Five members of the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana were recently sentenced to terms ranging from 12 to 157 months in prison for violating federal criminal civil rights statutes as a result of burning a 3 foot by 5 foot cross in the yard of three African Americans who recently moved to the area.

ENSURING COMPLIANCE WITH THE LANGUAGE MINORITY PROVISIONS OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT:

ACTIVELY ENFORCING THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965:

1) In March of 2003 in United Sates v. Charleston County, SC, the Division prevailed in a case alleging that Charleston County improperly diluted the voting strength of African American voters by maintaining an at-large voting system in a manner which violated Section 2. The Court is now considering an appropriate remedy.

2) In United States v. Berks County, PA, the Division won a preliminary injunction in a case alleging that Berks County had denied Hispanic voters an equal chance to participate in the political process based on treatment at the polls in violation of Section 2, and in failing to provide appropriate language assistance in violation of Section 203. The Court is now considering appropriate permanent relief.

3) In United States v. Blaine County, MT, the Division prevailed at trial, alleging that Blaine County improperly diluted the voting strength of Native-American voters by maintaining an at-large voting system in a manner that violated Section 2. The case is pending on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

Actively Enforcing the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA):

ASSISTING PERSONS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY (LEP):

SUCCESSFULLY AND VIGOROUSLY DEFENDING ANTI-DISCRIMINATION STATUTES BY REPEATEDLY INTERVENING IN CASES WHERE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS ARE RAISED: