JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES SENTENCING
IN PORTLAND, OREGON REGARDING BIAS-MOTIVATED CRIMES

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights R. Alexander Acosta and U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Karin J. Immergut today announced a sentencing in a Portland, Oregon criminal civil rights case.

Judge Garr M. King, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, sentenced Brian R. Hauth to 33 months in prison for his role in the desecrations of a Jewish cemetery and a Korean Church in 2001. Hauth had previously pleaded guilty in August 2003 to conspiring to deny civil rights.

“Violence motivated by hatred of race or religion will not be tolerated,” said R. Alexander Acosta. “When an adult teaches hate and violence to our children, and thereby encourages a new generation of hate, the conduct is especially serious. Race or religion-motivated hatred tears at the fabric of our nation and must end.”

From November 2000 until March 2001, Hauth, a self-professed white supremacist, lead a group of teenage boys in southeast Portland known as the “Oregon State Boot Boys.” The boys ranged in age from 13 to 16 years old. Hauth led the teenagers in a series of bias-motivated crimes such as spray-painting swastikas and other hate messages in several locations, including the Congregation Shaarie Torah Cemetery and Agape Wide World Mission Center. He also had the teenagers damage a church window with a baseball bat and burn crosses at Brentwood Park and at the Jewish cemetery.

“This sentence sends a strong message that hate crimes will not be tolerated in Oregon and that violators will have a substantial price to pay if they inflict this abuse on our community,” said Karin J. Immergut.

The Portland Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bias Crimes Unit of the Portland Police Bureau jointly investigated the matter. Trial attorney Sheila Berman of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen F. Peifer jointly prosecuted this case.

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