Federal Bureau of Investigation - Investigative Programs

Hate Crime Cases

Brooklyn, New York:

On August 19, 1991, violence erupted in the Crown Heights Community of Brooklyn after a car being driven as part of a security convoy struck and killed an African-American male, age seven. In the ensuing violence, a group of African-Americans attacked and stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum, a visiting Hasidic scholar from Australia. Rosenbaum subsequently died from the injuries he sustained.

On August 27, 1991, Lemrick Nelson, an African-American male, age 16, was charged locally with murdering Rosenbaum. On October 29, 1992, Nelson was acquitted. Following the local acquittal, the Department of Justice requested that the FBI conduct a federal civil rights investigation. On August 11, 1994, Nelson was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury and charged with violation Title 18, U.S.C., Section 245. On August 7, 1996, a second subject, Charles Price, was also indicted and charged with violating Title 18, U.S.C., Section 245. Price was observed at the scene of the Rosenbaum attack inciting the crowd to violence. After four days of deliberations, both subjects were found guilty on February 10, 1997, of federal civil rights violations. On March 31, 1998, Nelson was sentenced to 235 months in prison. On July 9, 1998, Price was sentenced to 260 months in prison.

Los Angeles, CA:

On October 3, 1996, FBI Los Angeles initiated an investigation at the request of the Los Angeles Attorney's Office after local newspapers reported an unidentified individual had sent threatening E-mail messages to 58 University of California at Irvine (UCI) students. The message blamed Asian students for all the crimes that occurred on the UCI campus, and the author wrote that he wanted Asians to leave UCI or he would hunt them down and kill them. The writer was identified as Richard Machado, a former UCI student.

A summons was issued ordering him to appear before a federal magistrate on November 25, 1996, in Santa Ana, California. Machado did not show for initial appearance and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Machado's former employer, roommates, and family members claimed to have no knowledge of his whereabouts.

He was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury and on November 13, 1996, and a Failure to Appear warrant was issued. Machado's whereabouts were unknown until February 6, 1997 when he was arrested by United States Customs Agents at Nogales, Arizona, while attempting to enter the United States from Mexico.

Machado was returned to the central district of California by United States Marshal's on March 3, 1997. He was declared a flight risk by a U.S. Magistrate Judge and ordered detained on March 5, 1997. Machado entered a not guilty plea during his arraignment in Santa Ana, California, on March 10, 1997.

On November 13, 1996, Richard Machado, was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury, and charged with ten counts of Interference with Federally Protected Activities, 18 U.S.C., Section 245 (b) 2 (A). The trial began on November 4, 1997 with the defense and prosecution giving closing arguments on November 18, 1997. After three days of deliberations, a jury could not reach a verdict and U.S. District Judge Alicemarie Stotler declared a mistrial. A hearing was held on December 1, 1997, to consider bail reduction. The defendant was still considered a fight risk, and the judge ordered him detained pending a new trial. A new trial date was set for January 27, 1998.

During the second trial, Machado was charged with two counts of Interfering with Federally Protected Activities. That trial began on January 27, 1998. A guilty verdict was returned on one count February 10, 1998. The jury failed to agree on a verdict pertaining to the second count.

On September 24, 1998, Machado admitted to violating his probation requirements. A U.S. District Judge sentenced him to four months in a halfway house and eight months supervised probation.

On May 4, 1998, Machado was sentenced to one year in jail and was given credit for maximum time already served. Conditions for his supervised release were submission to scheduled drug tests; counseling in racial relations; no driver's license or passport applications without approval from his probation officer; no trespassing on UCI campus and no contact with recipients of the hate mail or witnesses in the trial.

Dallas, Texas:

On April 26, 1997, Donald Ray Anderson drove his 1978 Cadillac into the parking lot of the Baruch Ha Shem Synagogue. At the time, members of the synagogue were present and participating in regular service. After exiting his vehicle, Anderson, armed with an SKS rifle, walked to the synagogue's courtyard. Upon entering the courtyard, Anderson was allegedly heard to have yelled, "I'm here to expose the Jewish conspiracy." He then aimed his gun toward a woman who was present in the courtyard. Thereafter, he raised the gun and shot four to five times into the air. Anderson then returned to the parking lot and shot numerous times at the synagogue itself.

On May 14, 1997, a Dallas, Texas, Grand Jury indicted Anderson on four counts of aggravated assault and one count of deadly conduct. Although he was indicted on state charges, a Federal Grand Jury indicted Anderson on August 28, 1997, charging him with violation of two counts of Title 18, U.S.C., Section 247, and one count of Title 18, U.S.C., Section 924(c) (Use of a firearm while committing a crime of violence). Subsequently, Anderson entered into a plea agreement with the government. On May 5, 1998, Anderson was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment for violating Title 18, U.S.C., Section 247; and 120 months imprisonment for violating Title 18, U.S.C., Section 924(c).

Mobile, Alabama:

On July 1, 1997, St. Joseph Baptist Church was discovered burned to the ground. Shortly thereafter, Tate Chapel A.M.E. Church, located approximately a quarter mile from St. Joseph Baptist Church and on the same rural road, was discovered vandalized with evidence also present of an attempted arson. A joint investigation by the local National Church Arson Task Force was immediately initiated. St. Joseph Baptist Church and Tate Chapel A.M.E. Church host African American congregations.

On July 31, 1997, subjects Alan Odom, Michael Woods, Brandy Boone, and Kenneth Cumbie were indicted in connection with the arson of St. Joseph Baptist Church. A second count of the indictment charged Alan Odom and Jeremy Boone with the attempted arson of the Tate Chapel A.M.E. Church. On November 3, 1997, Alan Odom, Brandy Boone, and John Kenneth Cumbie were found guilty of violating Title 18, U.S.C., Section 371 and Odom was also found guilty of violating Title 18, U.S.C., Sections 844(h)(1) and 844(i) regarding the St. Joseph Baptist Church arson. Previously, on October 27, 1997, defendant Michael Woods pled guilty to one count each of the same arson related statutes.

On November 4, 1997, the jury hearing the case involving the attempted arson/vandalism of Tate Chapel A.M.E. Church convicted Alan Odom of violating 18, U.S.C., Section 844(i) and acquitted him of all other charges. Prior to the trial, Jeremy Boone, who was also charged in this case, pled guilty to one count of violating 18, U.S.C., Section 844(i). During the period of March 6, 1998 through March 12, 1998, each of the subjects was sentenced. The sentences ranged from 41-180 months in prison followed by three years of supervised probation for all subjects. In addition, the subjects were ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $96,836.00, jointly and severally with the other subjects to St. Joseph Baptist Church.

Louisville, Kentucky:

On September 12, 1997, numerous copies of a threatening flyer were found lying in the yard of an African-American family. The family, the only African-Americans living in this small rural community, had resided there for approximately two years. The flyer, which was filled with racist and hate rhetoric, ordered the family to move from the community within 30 days or suffer the "wrath." The flyer was signed, "Sincerely, the Last Rites." On December 7, 1997, Daniel O'Brien Porter, Barry Gene Dunn and Christopher Jayson Mahan were indicted and charged with one count each of violating Title 18, U.S.C., Section 241, and Title 42, U.S.C., Section 3631. Porter and Dunn pled guilty to the above mentioned charges on April 6, 1998 prior to the commencement of a federal trial. Mahan was convicted on April 7, 1998.