Florida

A Florida man was sentenced to five years in prison for racially motivated attacks on two Black women.

On September 10, 2022, the defendant directed racial slurs at the clerk of a convenience store after his credit card was declined. The defendant left the store with unpaid items, then picked up a shotgun from his car. He pointed it at the clerk while yelling racial slurs, pulled back the chamber and loaded a bullet into it. The victim ran away in fear for her life.

Two days later, the defendant approached a woman resting on the seat of her walker on the sidewalk. He used racial slurs, told her that she could not sit there, and threatened to kill her. Then he retrieved his shotgun and fired a single shot.

The defendant pleaded guilty in July 2023.

Guilty Plea: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-pleads-guilty-federal-hate-crimes-racially-motivated-attacks-two-black-women

Sentencing: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-sentenced-racially-motivated-attacks-two-black-women

A Florida man pleaded guilty to assaulting a postal worker wearing a hijab.

On October 9, 2023, the defendant saw a federal employee wearing a hijab on her postal route. Two weeks later, when the postal worker stepped out of her vehicle to deliver mail, the defendant circled her on his bicycle, making gun gestures with his hands. He called the victim a “b---” and said, “If I had a gun,” and “go back to your country.”

When the victim got back in her vehicle, the defendant climbed into the vehicle, attacking her, spitting on her, and removing her hijab. Feeling trapped, the victim got out of her mail truck, but the defendant followed her, continued to physically harass her and yell “F--- Islam” and “You are a terrorist.”

Guilty Plea: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/fort-lauderdale-man-pleads-guilty-assaulting-federal-employee-hate-crime-enhancement

A Florida man was sentenced to six months in prison for leaving threatening messages at a Jewish Organization in New York City. Evidence showed the defendant left a message on October 21, 2023 threatening to kill all Israelis and “cause mass genocide.” The defendant pleaded guilty to the hate crime in December 2023.

Sentencing: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/sarasota-man-sentenced-federal-prison-leaving-threatening-voicemail-targeted-jewish

A Florida man was charged by a grand jury for repeatedly threatening the Council on American-Islamic Relations (“CAIR”) Michigan Chapter.

According to evidence, the defendant left three voicemails at the CAIR’s office in Canton, Michigan, including disparaging remarks about the Islamic community and threats to kill Muslim people. The defendant was arrested and charged for hate crimes. He faces up to five years in prison.

Charges: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/florida-man-indicted-making-hate-crime-threats-against-council-american-islamic

A Florida man was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and two years of supervised release for a bias-motivated attack on six Black men.

According to evidence, in September 2022, the defendant drove his truck towards the group of six Black men because of their race. The men were surveying land along a public road near the location of the 1923 Rosewood Massacre when the attack took place. The defendant shouted racial slurs at the victims while almost hitting them with his truck.

Sentencing: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-sentenced-racially-motivated-attack-against-six-black-men-near-1923-rosewood 

A jury in Gainesville, Florida, convicted a Florida man for hate crimes after his racially motivated attack on a group of Black men surveying property along a public road in Rosewood, Florida. The property is near the location of the 1923 Rosewood Massacre, an infamous racially motivated attack on a prospering Black community that destroyed a thriving town.

On Sept. 6, 2022, the defendant noticed the victims surveying land near a public roadway. When the defendant came upon the victims, who were on the public roadway, he shouted racial slurs and expletives at them, including “[racial slur] get out of these woods,” before driving a pickup truck directly at the group, nearly striking one of them. At trial, one witness testified that the defendant admitted that he “came at those [expletives],” and that he “would have [expletive]d up all those Black [expletive]. Video evidence showed that after he was arrested, the defendant complained that he was “getting treated like this [expletive] over a [expletive] [racial slur].” Although no victims suffered from physical injuries, one witness testified that the defendant came “within inches” of striking one of the victims and that one victim, “nearly lost his life that day.”

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-found-guilty-federal-hate-crimes-racially-motivated-attack-against-six-black-men

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-charged-federal-hate-crimes-racially-motivated-attack-against-group-black-men

Two Florida men were sentenced for hate crime charges in connection with their racially-motivated attack against a Black man in Citrus Springs.

According to the plea, on Nov. 17, 2021, the two men traveled to the Family Dollar in Citrus Springs, where the victim, a Black man, was shopping inside. The two men targeted the victim with racial slurs. They followed the victim into the parking lot where they attacked him with an axe handle.

Both men directed racial slurs towards the victim before, during, and after the attack.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-florida-men-sentenced-racially-motivated-hate-crime-following-violent-assault-black-man

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/second-florida-man-pleads-guilty-federal-hate-crime-racially-motivated-attack-black-man-using

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-florida-men-charged-federal-hate-crime-violently-attacking-black-man-while-shouting

A federal court sentenced a Florida man to 24 months in prison for attacking a Black man who was driving with his family in Seminole, Florida.

According to evidence, the defendant shouted racial slurs at the victim and sideswiped his car while attempting to force the car off the road. The victim’s girlfriend and four-year-old daughter were in the car at the time.

When officers from the Pinellas County Sherriff’s Office arrived on the scene, the defendant made numerous statements evidencing his bias motive, telling the officers that Black people need to be kept “in their areas.”

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-sentenced-racially-motivated-hate-crime

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-found-guilty-hate-crime-racially-motivated-attack-against-black-man-driving-his

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-charged-hate-crimes-following-use-vehicle-racially-motivated-attack-against-black

A Florida man pled guilty to threatening a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

On July 16, 2019, the defendant sent an email to U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar threatening to kill her. The subject line of his email read, “[You’re] dead, you radical Muslim.” He referred to Congresswoman Omar and her colleagues as “radical rats,” and asked her if she was prepared “to die for Islam.” The email further stated that he was going to shoot her in the head.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-pleads-guilty-federal-charges-hate-motivated-threats-against-us-member-congress

A federal court sentenced a Washington man to seven years in prison for his role in a plot to threaten journalists and advocates. The man, a leader of the Neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, targeted people who were working against anti-Semitism. Three others pled guilty for their roles in the plot in prior hearings.

According to evidence, the participants in this plot made threatening posters. The posters contained Nazi symbols, threatening language and imagery. The posters were then distributed to members of Atomwaffen Division online. Members of the hate-group then delivered or mailed the posters to targeted journalists and advocates.

In Seattle, the group sent posters to a TV journalist who had reported on Atomwaffen Division. The posters were also sent to members of the Anti-Defamation League, a leading Jewish civil rights organization. The group also targeted journalists in Phoenix and Tampa for reporting on anti-Semitism.

Complaint: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/press-release/file/1252306/download

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/arrests-four-states-racially-motivated-violent-extremists-targeting-journalists-and

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-neo-nazi-group-sentenced-plot-target-journalists-and-advocates

A Florida man pled guilty to threatening an African-American Charlottesville City Council candidate because of his race and because he was running for office, and to threatening, harassing, and stalking another victim using social media.

The defendant admitted using fake names on social media to promote white supremacy and to express support for racially-motivated violence. The defendant also admitted to using social media to threaten violence against an African-American resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, because of his race and because he was running for City Council.

The defendant will be sentenced on July 23, 2020, and faces up to one year in prison for making online threats and up to five years in prison for using the internet to threaten, stalk, and harass.

Guilty Plea: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-pleads-guilty-racially-motivated-interference-election-charlottesville-virginia

Indictment: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-arrested-making-racially-motivated-threats-interference-election-charlottesville

A Florida man was sentenced to four years in prison, three years supervised release and $1,800 in restitution for obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by threatening, via phone, to detonate a bomb at a mosque in Pembroke Pines, Florida. During the plea hearing, the defendant admitted the he called Jamaat Ul Muttaqeen Mosque of Pembroke Pines and left a voicemail message filled with hate and profanity denigrating Islam and threatening to blow up the mosque. Specifically, the defendant admitted to stating in the voicemail that he had a detonator, that he was “going to blow your…temple up," and that "you guys are all going to be up in flames after I’m done with you."

Sentencing: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-florida-man-sentenced-prison-hate-crime-threatening-blow-mosque