Members of white supremacist group charged in hate crime
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
December 18, 2012 |
NEWARK, N.J. – Federal agents today arrested two members of New Jersey-based white supremacist groups in connection with the New Year’s Eve 2011 hate crime assault of three Middle Eastern men in Sayreville, N.J., U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Christopher Ising, 31, of Waretown, N.J., was arrested this morning by FBI special agents on an Indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit a hate crime, as well as the actual commission of a hate crime assault, in violation of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The defendant, a purported member of white supremacist organization known as the “Atlantic City Skins,” made his initial court appearance this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor, in Newark federal court, and was ordered detained.
Michael Gunar, 27, of East Windsor, NJ, was also arrested today and charged in the Indictment. He is expected to make his initial court appearance tomorrow before Judge Waldor. Gunar is an alleged member of another New Jersey-based white supremacist group known as the “Aryan Terror Brigade.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in federal court:
On Dec. 31, 2011, Ising hosted a New Year’s Eve “meet and greet” white supremacist event at his former residence in East Brunswick, N.J. That night, Ising and Gunar drove to an apartment complex in Sayreville, N.J., with the express purpose of assaulting random, non-Caucasian individuals. While at the complex, the defendants located and attacked three Middle Eastern men, shouting anti-Arab slurs, brandishing a knife and brass knuckles, injuring two of the victims.
The hate crimes count with which the defendants are charged is punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison and the conspiracy count is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. Both counts are also punishable by a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward; special agents of the U.S. Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James Mottola, as well as detectives from the N.J. State Attorney General’s Office, under the direction of Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa, with the investigation that lead to the Indictment.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dennis C. Carletta of the U.S. Attorney’s Office National Security Unit in Newark, and Fara Gold of the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
12-445
Defense counsel:
Gunar: Patrick McMahon Esq. Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark
Ising: TBA
