California

Two Los Angeles-area men have been indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy and hate crimes offenses for attacking five victims of a family-owned Turkish restaurant and threatening to kill them. On the day of the attack, one of the defendants sent a text message saying that he planned to go “hunting for [T]urks.” The two men allegedly attacked the restaurant while shouting anti-Turkish slurs, hurling chairs at victims, and threatening to kill them. Multiple victims were injured during the attack and there was over $20,000 worth of damage done to the restaurant.

If found guilty, each of the men face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the hate crime charges and five years in prison for the conspiracy charge.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-california-men-indicted-hate-crimes-case-alleging-they-attacked-family-owned-restaurant

A federal jury convicted a California man of willfully attempting to cause bodily injury by using a dangerous weapon because of a person’s actual or perceived race or color.

The man is guilty of confronting and attacking a Black man with a nine-inch knife, swiping the man multiple times on his head, chest, and stomach, while yelling racial slurs. At the time of the attack, the defendant was on probation in connection to another racially-motivated attack he committed in 2018.

The defendant faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-man-convicted-federal-hate-crime-attempting-stab-black-man

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-man-charged-federal-hate-crime-attempting-stab-Black-man

A California woman has been sentenced to 15 months and 13 days for intentionally obstructing individuals’ free exercise of religion by threatening to bomb the Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, D.C., the oldest Catholic school for girls in the country.

The defendant faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.In May of 2019, the school announced that it would begin publishing same-sex wedding announcements in its alumni magazine. In response to the school’s decision, the defendant made multiple calls to the school, threatening to bomb the church, blow up the school, and kill school officials and students.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-woman-sentenced-15-months-threatening-bomb-catholic-prep-school

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-woman-pleads-guilty-hate-crime-threatening-bomb-catholic-prep-school

A California woman pleaded guilty to committing a religious-bias hate crime by threatening to bomb the Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, D.C.

In May 2019, after school officials announced that Visitation Prep, the oldest Catholic school for girls in the country, would begin publishing same-sex wedding announcements in its alumni magazine, they began receiving threats. On May 15, the defendant left a series of voice messages stating that she was going to burn and bomb campus buildings, and kill school officials and students.

The crime carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-woman-pleads-guilty-hate-crime-threatening-bomb-catholic-prep-school

A California man has been charged with a federal hate crime for attacking a Black man with a knife on a street in Santa Cruz, California.

According to the charges, the defendant confronted a 29-year-old Black man who was crossing a street in Santa Cruz. He took out a nine-inch knife and slashed at the man’s head, chest, and stomach multiple times while yelling racial slurs at him.

At the time of the attack, the defendant was on probation for state convictions involving a racially-motivated assault on a different Black man in 2018. The complaint also describes two additional racially-motivated assaults committed by the defendant against Black men in 2014 and 2018.

The charge in the complaint is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. The defendant faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-man-charged-federal-hate-crime-attempting-stab-Black-man

Benjamin Daley, Michael Miselis, and Thomas Gillen, members of the white-supremacist group formerly known as the Rise Above Movement (RAM), were sentenced in court for violence they committed at political rallies as part of their conspiracy to riot.

From March 2017 to August 2017, the three men traveled with other RAM members to multiple political rallies and organized demonstrations in Virginia and California where they engaged in planned acts of violence. They attended these rallies intending to provoke physical conflict with counter-protestors, which they believed would justify their use of force and protect them from prosecution. The defendants admitted that their acts of violence during the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally were not in self-defense.

Daley was sentenced to 37 months in prison, Gillen was sentenced to 33 months in prison, and Miselis was sentenced to 27 months in prison. A fourth defendant, Cole Evan White, will be sentenced at a later date. All four defendants previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to riot.

Sentencing: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdva/pr/three-members-california-based-white-supremacist-group-sentenced-riots-charges-related

John Earnest, of Rancho Peñasquitos, California, has been charged with federal hate crimes, including the obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs and damage to religious property, following attacks on the Chabad of Poway Synagogue and Dur-ul-Arqam Mosque in California.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, the defendant set fire to the Dur-ul-Arqam Mosque on March 24, 2019. The flames were quickly extinguished but the building sustained some damage. A month later, on April 27, 2019, the defendant reportedly arrived at the Poway Synagogue with a fully loaded semi-automatic rifle with five extra magazines strapped to a chest rig, and opened fire, killing one person and injuring three other members of the congregation. The defendant was chased from the scene and attempted to flee, but law enforcement later apprehended him and found the rifle and ammunition in his car. The defendant’s manifesto was later found during the execution of a search warrant, in which he admitted to the Dur-al-Arqam Mosque arson and cited the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooting as an inspiration for his actions.

The defendant faces a 113-count indictment, with a maximum possible penalty of death, or life without parole. He is currently in state custody pending state criminal charges.

Charges Filed: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-man-charged-federal-hate-crimes-poway-synagogue-shooting

Indictment: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-man-indicted-federal-hate-crimes-related-poway-synagogue-shooting-and-arson