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Sorry for the text dump; these are hoaxes I have on my hard drive that a quick Google didn't turn up. They could be memory holed, no doubt some I just missed:
1999
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Testimony of Dennis Jay Executive Director, Coalition Against Insurance Fraud Judiciary Committee U.S. House of Representatives August 4, 1999
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| Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to testify here today. My name is Dennis Jay and I'm the Executive Director of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. We are a Washington, D.C.-based national alliance of public interest groups, government organizations and private insurance companies who are dedicated to fighting all forms of insurance fraud. We seek to curb fraud through public advocacy, consumer education and research. Our organization takes no position related to federal solutions to curb hate crime. Our purpose here today is to convey one aspect of this problem we see growing, and is likely to affect how communities respond to hate crimes. One of the responsibilities of our organization is to monitor local as well as national trends concerning insurance fraud. Our goal is to spot new or changing criminal behavior so law enforcement and victims can better prepare to counter these economic crimes, or at least be aware of them when they do occur. In late 1997, our national data showed a small but certain rise in the number of arrests and convictions of people who stage hate crimes for the purposes of illegally collecting on insurance policies. These cases involved property damage to homes and cars, either by burning, defacing or damaging them in some other way. During the preceding years, our systems logged few, if any, of these types of cases. We perhaps saw one or two cases a year. In 1998, we started logging one or two faked hate crimes a month. While these numbers still remain very small compared to the total number of reported hate crimes, it was enough for us to develop an initial inquiry into whether these few cases might be the beginning of a trend. From our inquiries to law enforcement and insurance companies, there is some evidence to suggest that many more hate crimes may have been staged by alleged victims for either financial gain through insurance proceeds or to evoke community sympathy. The numbers are not great, but enough to raise concern about whether this crime will grow and what affect it could have on community response to real victims. A few examples from our files: Sandra Benson and Freeman Berry were indicted on charges they defaced their home in Jonesboro, Georgia, with racial slurs and set the house on fire in an attempt to collect more than $300,000 in insurance money for the home and personal property supposedly destroyed in the fire. The couple claimed they were targeted because Benson, a white woman, lived with a black man. The two reportedly received anonymous threatening phone calls, and showed television news crews racial slurs and swastikas painted on a fence and shed in the couple's yard. In reality, the couple stored their possessions prior to the fire. After an investigation, the couple was charged on 23 fraud counts covering several schemes that took place over the years, including another house fire. Benson and Berry pled guilty to fraud and arson charges. DeWayne Byrdsong, a black minister in Coralville, Iowa, claimed his Mercedes-Benz had been spray-painted with racial slurs. When his insurer delayed paying the claim, he contacted everyone from Oprah Winfrey to the local media, charging the delay was racially motivated. However, local body shops reported that Byrdsong had been seeking repainting estimates before the alleged crime occurred. He was found guilty of making a false report to authorities. Matthew Porter of Williamsport, Pa., was found guilty of arson and fraud in an attempt to collect $60,000 in insurance money. During the trial, prosecutors presented documents that Porter, a former federal prison counselor, sent to the wardens of three federal prisons and a local police chief and left at the crime scene, intended to show that the Ku Klux Klan was behind the fire. In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors discussed the damage Porter had done to racial relations. He was sentenced to 10 years and three months in prison and ordered to pay $147,000 in restitution. Angela Jackson of Chicago, an art distributor, was indicted in connection with a scheme to make it appear as though racist UPS employees were damaging with racial epithets packages being sent to her that contained art work. She was accused of mailing the packages herself as part of an elaborate scheme in which she also mailed similarly defaced packages to notables such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, his son U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and Kweisi Mfume, among others. She also wrote to prominent black Members of Congress, seeking assistance in collecting from UPS, which she claimed damaged the entire African-American community through its actions. In Cooper City, Fla., Jerry and Jamie Roedel were accused of defacing their home with swastikas and other signs of vandalism to cover up a burglary they apparently staged themselves. The crime sparked an anti-hate rally that drew more than 500 people to a local synagogue. The face of Jerry, who is Jewish, was blacked out of family photographs. Jamie filed a $48,000 claim with her insurer and collected $28,000. One reason the arrest and conviction numbers may be suppressed is that both law enforcement and insurance companies generally are hesitant to press cases of fake hate crimes unless the evidence is overwhelming. To falsely accuse a real victim of hate would be the gravest injustice, compounding the hurt and damage already suffered. And no insurance company wants to be on the wrong side of a civil trial decision accusing it of dealing in bad faith with a hate crime victim. Nonetheless, we know from research that our organization and others have conducted that there is a small minority of Americans that seek to take advantage of opportunities such as the growing profile of hate crimes to use as cover to commit insurance fraud. Arson, for example, is a convenient method to score a big insurance settlement for loss of a home or business. The element of hate adds legitimacy to the crime and is an attempt to deflect suspicion from the actual perpetrator. In some cases, the criminal sets the stage for the supposed hate crimes by forging letters or documents purported to be from some hate group or other, in order to have a convenient scapegoat to point to after the crime occurs. The economic damage caused by fake hate crimes is not great, relatively speaking. But the damage to communities that discover that their goodwill and generosity has been betrayed may often be severe. A local case in Maryland illustrates this point. Sonia James of Laurel, Maryland, told police she came home one day to find her kitchen and bathroom flooded, furniture overturned, clothes damaged by bleach, her child's toys broken, and the walls painted with racial slurs telling her to leave the neighborhood. The community, rallying to what local officials called the worst hate crime in their history, contributed food, clothing, toys, another home and $5,000 collected on her behalf. She also received a $14,000 insurance settlement. She tried to point the finger at a neighboring family who had given her, she said, "hard looks." In reality, she staged the fraud, including passing out leaflets from a phony hate group just prior to the crime. She pled guilty and was sentenced to nine months in prison and more than $26,000 in restitution. Imagine how the people in her community felt after learning that their goodwill was betrayed. Sylvia Vacchio Chiodaroli, one of James's neighbors, told the Baltimore Sun that the incident destroyed many residents' sense of trust and community. "It really makes me angry," she said. "It caused tension. People were pulled against each other." Imagine still how these same people will respond when a real hate crime next occurs in their community. These fake crimes tear at the fabric of communities, casting doubt upon whether crimes are real or not, giving people one more reason not to get involved in lending a hand to a neighbor in trouble. As a society we need to deter this type of crime as much as possible for the sake of all real victims. But before we can work to deter the crime, we must recognize the hard fact that people will take advantage of others in this fashion. It's hard to admit that this sort of thing goes on in our society; it rightfully sickens many people just to think that someone could fake a hate crime. Yet if we don't admit that it happens, we won't be in a position to learn the signs and take the steps necessary to investigate this crime. Yes, it's a sensitive area, and one that must be handled accordingly. But if we're to have any hope of maintaining our trust in one another, honest people must step forward and deal with truth, and seek solutions to deter this crime. Effective deterrence includes thorough investigation by law enforcement and insurance companies to uncover any evidence that a hate crime might be staged. Insurance companies also should be encouraged to cooperate fully with law enforcement when they have a suspicious case. While hate crime victims should always be given the benefit of the doubt, insurers need to be ever vigilant to scam artists who prey upon the insurance system for financial gain. Public education also is a key to reinforce deterrence. These people need to understand that if they commit this crime, there's a good chance they will get caught. And if they get caught, they will be punished severely. Currently, there is a large minority of Americans who tolerate insurance fraud, and unfortunately, that seems to encourage a few to take the desperate act of staging fake hate crimes. |
2002
Cat Attack Now Described As 'Hate Crime'
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| MSNBC.com ^ | April 5, 2002 | Staff Posted on 04/06/2002 2:59:19 PM PST by buzzyboop ESCONDIDO, Calif., 12:13 p.m. PST April 5, 2002 -A North County man who is suing the city of Escondido because his dog was attacked by a cat inside a city library, now says the attack was a hate crime. |
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| The FBI is now involved in an arson investigation because the victims may have been targeted because of their race. By ABC13 Eyewitness News (12/10/02) — A northwest Harris County family woke up in a hotel Tuesday morning, forced to move from their home by a house fire that could be racially motivated. The Harris County fire marshal's office has called in the FBI to investigate the weekend fire at the Gatlin home on Tassel Brook as a possible hate crime. Investigators say all signs point to arson and some racial slurs sprayed on the home either right before or right after the fire led them to contact the FBI. If the arsonist and the graffiti artist are one in the same, investigators may have all they need to catch the suspects. "We have a can of spray paint. We may or may not find some fingerprints," said Harris County arson investigator Gary Self. Someone also broke into the Gatlins' home when they moved in eight months ago. That time, the culprit stole furniture and spray painted more racially motivated graffiti. |
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| Police Investigating Alleged Attack POSTED: 5:41 p.m. MST March 27, 2002 UPDATED: 10:52 a.m. MST March 28, 2002 DENVER -- A 17-year-old Denver girl is recovering from a brutal, bloody attack that may have happened because of her sexual orientation, 7NEWS reported. The teen said four men used razor blades to slash her face and cut words into her body. "Two guys got out (of the car) and one held me down, while the other guy was cutting something in me," April Mora told 7NEWS. "The driver (of the car) was yelling stuff to them and telling them what to do to me." The word "dyke" was cut into her forearm (pictured, right) and the initials "R.I.P." were cut into her abdomen. |
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| Asbury Park (NJ) Press ^ | 7.17.02 | NAOMI MUELLER Racist notes found at Wall High School a hoax Published in the Asbury Park Press 7/17/02 By NAOMI MUELLER COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU WALL -- In a complicated hoax designed to get themselves excused from school, two high school freshmen sent racist and threatening notes to themselves and to three other black students, said Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Ken Keller. The girls, both 16-year-old township residents, were each charged with one count of conspiracy, three counts of bias intimidation and one count of making a false report to police. Patricia Harbison said her daughter, Monique, was arrested yesterday. The other girl who originally said she had received racist notes was Shameeca Whitfield. No one from her house could be reached yesterday for comment. Keller would not release the names of the girls because of their age. The complaints will be heard in family court. Harbison said she is glad authorities solved the crime and hope they plan to punish her daughter "to the fullest extent of the law." After all, she said, a harsh punishment is what she would have wanted for someone else's child who committed such a crime. "This crime was done out of ignorance and selfishness," she said. One of the suspects turned herself into township police today and was released to her family. The other suspect is out of state and will turn herself into police when she returns in a couple of weeks, Keller said. Schools Superintendent Ed Miklus said yesterday there is a "high likelihood" the arrests will prompt the district to convene a disciplinary hearing, which may result in expulsion. Although upset the incidents occurred at all, Miklus said he was pleased that the investigation was concluded, vindicating members of the student body in the process. Keller said a number of innocent students were interviewed as suspects. "The whole incident is very damaging to everybody," Keller said. The first racist incident at the school was reported to police on May 20, when racist and threatening messages were found on two separate bathroom stalls in the high school. Then, on May 21, one of the two girls arrested told school and police officials that she found a threatening message written in black marker on her locker. That same girl found a derogatory comment written on a different bathroom stall later that day, Keller said. Also on May 21, the other girl who was arrested told police a threatening note had been left in her locker, Keller said. The following day, the girl who had the message written on her locker told police a threatening and racist note had been left in her locker. Keller said another black female student also found a similar note in her locker that day. Meanwhile, township police installed a pinhole camera and tape recorder in the first girls' locker, believing that since she had been targeted once, she might be targeted again, Keller said. Nothing else happened until June 3, when the girls who were arrested reportedly received racist and threatening notes in their lockers sometime between seventh and eighth periods, which lasts from noon to 1 p.m. On that same day, three other black female students, including the one who received the threatening note on May 22, found notes in their lockers, Keller said. Upon examining the camera and tape recorder installed weeks earlier by police, Keller said police learned that no one, other than the girl who told police she received the note between noon and 1 p.m., had been at her locker since 10:30 a.m. Keller said authorities interviewed the two girls and solved the crime. "One of the most unfortunate things about this is that there were couple hundred man hours spent on this case in order to determine it was just a hoax," Keller said. "It is time and effort that could have been directed elsewhere." Miklus said he and his staff also wasted needless time on the investigation, including paying an independent proctor to administer the girls' final exams in his office. New to the school district from Asbury Park, Harbison said her daughter told her, as early as September, that she did not feel comfortable in a school with so few minorities. Yet Harbison said she explained to her that while she understood her concerns, she needed to learn to get along with all kinds of people. |
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| Police Re-Interview Alleged Victim POSTED: 9:38 a.m. MST March 29, 2002 UPDATED: 3:37 p.m. MST March 29, 2002 DENVER -- A Denver teenager who reported that she was attacked and mutilated because she is a lesbian believes police aren't taking her account seriously. April Mora, 17, said she was attacked in an alley near her northwest Denver home Tuesday by two men who called her a "dyke." She said they held her down and scratched the word on her forearm at the direction of a third man who remained in the car. She said they also scratched "R.I.P." on her abdomen. Mora said the men were armed with a razor blade. According to Mora , police have asked her to take a lie detector test and asked if the wounds were self-inflicted. There is a discrepancy between the original report and a later interview with Mora on the number of attackers. The original police report quoted Mora as saying there were four men involved, instead of three. But, Mora said the police officer filing the report wrote down the wrong number. A Denver police spokeswoman said she couldn't comment on the investigation, and wouldn't confirm whether detectives had asked Mora to take a polygraph test. Detectives planned to try to re-interview Mora Friday. |
2003
Couple allegedly torch their home, then say it was hate crime
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| By Darren Lyn By ABC13 Eyewitness News (1/30/03- Houston) — There's not much left of the Gatlin family home on Tassel Brook at Timber Valley in northwest Harris County. The parents claimed it was torched in a racially motivated hate crime, but authorities say that was a big lie. They say instead, it was an attempt to collect on an insurance policy. "To go to that extent doesn't make any sense really," said neighbor Tim Iselt. |
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| kxii ^ Investigators have turned up more evidence of arson at the first Assembly of God church. On Tuesday they administered polygraph tests pastor Michael Bradley and at least one other church member. That information came from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. They already know the fire began in two places, using a trained dog to sniff for accelerants.But right now they're not commenting on what led them to administer the polygraph tests and they're also not ruling out anyone as a suspect. The tests came one day after pastor Bradley told investigators that the church received a threatening racist message the day of the fire. As for the congregation, they have rallied together and set up a building fund at First United Bank in Durant. |
Officer confesses to hoax, resigns
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| Woman had lodged harassment claims A Toledo police officer, who claimed she was the victim of harassment by colleagues, resigned yesterday before police announced she staged the incidents. Administrative and criminal investigations were begun by the department in February after Barbara Cregan-Ott, 32, who joined the department in 1995, reported incidents, ranging from threatening telephone calls and letters to an altered child's doll with a threatening message and a knife with a note inside a police car. She admitted her involvement yesterday in all but one of the cases, police Chief Mike Navarre said. "Her resignation and the imminent completion of this complex criminal investigation brings to closure a very dark chapter in the history of the Toledo Police Department," he said. Ms. Cregan-Ott made no comment as she left the Safety Building. Her attorney did not return calls seeking comment. The chief said Ms. Cregan-Ott agreed to cooperate with the criminal investigation and spoke for more than an hour with investigators. She had no prior disciplinary action or complaints against her. The chief said investigators found evidence that led to her admission, but he declined to say what that was. He would not comment on her motive, saying he did not want to jeopardize the criminal investigation. Initially, the department's investigations centered on then-Officer Richard Mohr and another male officer. The alleged harassment, which occurred between January and April 11, included 13 letters, six phone calls, and eight other incidents. Some involved death threats that were date-specific. One of the incidents included a threatening message written in catsup on a piece of paper affixed under the windshield wiper blade of Ms. Cregan-Ott's personal vehicle, and another was an undressed altered doll with its hands cut off and a threatening message scratched into the doll's chest on the dashboard of her police vehicle. Police served six search warrants and seized computers, including equipment from Mr. Mohr's house. Mr. Mohr, whom the chief said denied the allegations, resigned March 7. The chief said neither Mr. Mohr nor the other officer are suspects in the harassment investigation. However, the chief said Mr. Mohr would have faced administrative charges for evidence found during the investigation that was unrelated. He declined to say what evidence was uncovered. The other officer also may face administrative charges for evidence found during the investigation that was unrelated to the case. Neither Mr. Mohr nor the other officer could be reached for comment. Gary Burks, first vice president of the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association, declined comment. The chief said investigators started to question the validity of Ms. Cregan-Ott's complaint about a month ago. "Little by little, we started gathering things. It wasn't until the morning of April 15 that we gathered what I think is the most incriminating evidence which took away the doubts," the chief said. He declined comment on that evidence. The chief said he anticipates criminal charges against Ms. Cregan-Ott to be filed within the next few days. The department devoted about 2,000 man-hours to the investigation and overtime costs were close to $50,000. The department will seek restitution when the case is adjudicated in court, the chief said. The investigation had a "major impact" on the department and drained its resources. "There was a lot of real concern that there was a very dangerous person out there," the chief said. He said specialists with the FBI looked at the evidence and reported that "we had a very dangerous person on our hands." Ms. Cregan-Ott was temporarily reassigned to investigative services for her own safety in mid-March. On April 15, she removed herself from the payroll and was relieved of duty. She had no prior disciplinary action or complaints against her. |
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| ABC13 Eyewitness News (8/19/03 -HOUSTON) — A northwest Harris County man will head to prison for 10 years for setting fire to his home to collect insurance. Nicholas Gatlin pleaded guilty Tuesday to arson and insurance fraud, and received a ten year prison term. His wife, Tracey Gatlin, pleaded guilty to insurance fraud Monday and received four years deferred adjudication. The couple had spray painted racial slurs in their home, then set fire to it and told authorities they were victims of a hate crime. (Copyright © 2003, KTRK-TV) |
2004
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| Anti-Semitism sparks public outrage By Stephanie Dornschneider THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published July 13, 2004 A suspected anti-Semitic attack last week on a 23-year-old woman and her child on a suburban Paris train has created public outrage in France and sparked a debate about tolerance and how to deal with racist attacks. President Jacques Chirac expressed his "dread" about the event and said yesterday that for the first time sexual and racial crimes will not be included in his annual Bastille Day list of presidential pardons, to be issued tomorrow. |
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| Apr 20, 2004 8:14 am US/Central A former student at Bethel Seminary pleaded guilty to scrawling a racist message on his pickup truck. |
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| Glander, who is white, initially reported the incident to the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department, where he had worked as a volunteer chaplain. Later, he told investigators he had vandalized his own truck, according to a criminal complaint. |
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| Tracy Mclaughlin, Staff Writer 05/30/04 00:00:00 A Vaughan businessman has been charged with arson and fraud in the destruction of his factory. The fire and explosion March 28 fed into widespread concerns about hate crimes because swastikas had been spray painted at the front entrance of Central Pallet on Rowntree Dairy Road. The fire created a blast that blew out windows and doors, causing an estimated $200,000 damage. The Ontario Fire Marshal's office ruled it was arson, the result of a vapour explosion. York Regional Police now believe the building was destroyed for the insurance and the swas-tikas were spray painted to mislead police. |
Is Stasi Behind German Violence?
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| John C. Schmeidel Saturday, Dec. 9, 2000 All old soldiers do not fade away, and all spies do not come in from the cold. A surge in right-wing violence in the united Germany could well be fueled by the training and experts of the Stasi, the former communist German Democratic RepublicÂ’s secret service. This is the suspicion of senior counterintelligence and police experts, plus longtime observers of the radical Szene, or scene. The pattern of attacks in terms of precision targeting, good reconnaissance and all-round skill in covering tracks betrays a disquieting step-up in professionalism compared to the spontaneous hooliganism of the early 1990s. Beginning two years ago and peaking since this summer, right radical violence notched upward from low-tech but horrific brutality to planned demolition attacks in the manner of a guerrilla war. At least 93 lives have been cut short by right-wing savagery since the two Germanys became one in 1990. 'We Are the People' Just before Christmas 1998 a bomb planted in the working-class suburb of Wedding in Berlin blew a 700-pound headstone from a prominent German Jew's grave 40 yards. The explosive and detonator were military issue. In October of this year village skinheads planted a booby-trap bomb in a garden gate invisible to the naked eye that was set to go off when the gate opened. Worst of all, in July a powerful blast detonated at a subway entrance in Dusseldorf, precisely timed to coincide with the passing of immigrants taking German language classes. It snuffed out the life of an unborn baby and injured nine. Most of the injured were Russian Jews new to Germany. The official 1999 report of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the German equivalent of the FBI, notes more than a little defensively that "there is no evidence at this time of a Brown Army Faction," referring to Hitler's brown uniforms and the disciplined Leninist cell tactics of the left-wing Red Army Faction. RAF rocked Germany in the two decades before the Wall fell. But a source close to the office's staff devoted to right-wing terror observes, "When you look at these new bombs that are not all basement jobs, you have to wonder Â…" Right-wing violence has plagued the former East Germany more than the West. With less than a fifth of the country's population, it racks up half of all violent skinhead attacks. And bombings are not the usual fare; instead it is Molotov cocktails or alcohol-powered beatings of helpless victims. This summer four homeless men in as many weeks were kicked and punched to death by young thugs who gave unrepentant – one laughing – interviews to TV cameras. The slaying of a working immigrant and father of three from Mozambique in the grimy industrial town of Dessau made headlines throughout the world in June. A kaleidoscope of reasons made the New Lands, as the former east is called, a flashpoint for the right. Unemployment, lack of republican tradition and bitterness at the consequences of unification with the west festered since 1991. In regional elections in Saxony in 1998, a staggering 10 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in the east cast extreme-right ballots. Lawrence of Arabia Mystique Few had better reason to be bitter than former employees of the Stasi. Professional employees of "The Firm" were barred from public-sector jobs. This is a ticket to starvation in a socialized economy such as Germany's. The Stasi, short for Ministry for State Security, had maintained an entire department devoted to the care and feeding of left-wing terror groups in the then West Germany from the mid-1950s to the fall of the Berlin Wall. This support embraced instruction in clandestine procedure – "tradecraft" since LeCarre – small arms firing practice, logistical help in arranging transport of people and illicit material like explosives, breakproof radio communication links and deluxe courier service via diplomatic pouch. Department XXII of the ministry's overseas intelligence arm was the typically gray cover name for a unit wrapped in fog even by the standards of the Stasi. Its members and operations were tightly firewalled from all but the most senior staff of the ministry. Always army veterans – like every GDR male – officers of Department XXII had a swashbuckling, can-do aura, on account of their work in remote places such as Yemen. Thinly disguised stories and films by the government film company imparted a T.E. Lawrence mystique to GDR clandestine foreign policy. Beyond Boys From Brazil Guerrilla organizations are organized in five- to eight-man units, always controlled from the center. They separate functionally into command cells protected like a queen bee in a hive, support cells of foot soldiers who do the legwork of scouting, maintaining safe houses and playing the role of cut-outs. A cut-out is an intermediary in a spy operation akin to a maitre de without a guest list. His arrest is meaningless, as he knows nothing of consequence for interrogation. Fighting cells carry out the actual attacks and immediately disperse. Hints of newly oiled machinery of the right radicals at the fighting cell level are what intrigue German investigators. Parties of the German far right fall in two groups. Always visible are above-ground, legal ones like the Republican Party or the National Party of Germany, whose roots are in postwar, neo-Nazi dreams portrayed in the film "The Boys from Brazil." Down the chain come looser gangs as small as a dozen, with names such as "Viking Youth." For both legal and tactical reasons the leaders have encouraged local clubs that gather for "comradeship" jamborees. Pounding music and free beer are crowd pleasers. Publishing houses, skinhead music labels and Internet Web sites make for a hard-to-nail-down but very real unity. Police can watch a Szene bar. They cannot be everywhere on the Internet, but the government founded this week an interactive Web site to counsel disaffected skins and make informing more anonymous. Dr. Schmeidel is a former consultant on terrorism to the Rand Corp. in Santa Monica, Calif., and the author of the upcoming book "Shield and Sword of the Party," a study of the former East Germany's Ministry for State Security. |
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| CSU Hayward's Delta Chi members seek to allay concerns for racist wisecrack By Ricci Graham STAFF WRITER Saturday, May 22, 2004 - HAYWARD -- As president of the Delta Chi Fraternity, Patrick Hall was looking forward to Greek Week, a week-long series of events that culminates with massive recruiting drives for fraternities and sororities at Cal State Hayward. Then came Thursday morning, when Hall received a phone call informing him someone posted about 50 fliers throughout the campus inviting students to a barbecue supposedly hosted by Delta Chi. Besides the fact that no barbecue was actually planned, there was one major problem. Written on the bottom of the crudely crafted invitation were three words that incensed fraternity members: "No Black People." The flier, with those three words, has placed the 29 members of the local chapter of Delta Chi on the defensive. "It was beyond belief, especially with the negative views being placed on fraternities and just fighting the public perception of Greek organizations and the stereotypes," Hall said Friday. "To have something like this with my letters placed on it, I'm just appalled and shocked that our organization is even closely related to this." Hall said his organization, which has a membership that includes various ethnic groups, had nothing to do with the flier, and as proof, he indicated no festivities involving Delta Chi Fraternity were scheduled for Friday. "I found it to be very disrespectful," said Travis Sams, a junior who is a member of Delta Chi. "It wasn't right for us to be represented in that way." University officials, clearly shaken by what is being characterized as a hoax, have called for an investigation into the matter. Sonjia Parker Redmond, vice president of student affairs, said the university will form a committee to look into the incident. University Police Chief Janeith Glenn-Davis will head the investigation and committee, Redmond said. "This is an atypical event for Cal State University, Hayward," Redmond said. "The context of this is this is Greek Week. It could have been something another group did to keep one group from getting pledges." Ray Galbreth, the executive director for Delta Chi International Fraternity, said he is "reviewing" the Cal State Hayward chapter, but added that he would be "shocked" if the investigation finds that Delta Chi members were involved in circulating the flier. "Given the diversity and quality of membership within our Hayward chapter, as well as Delta Chi's historic stance on the issue, we would be shocked to find any validity in these allegations," Galbreth said in a press release issued by the fraternity. In an effort to defuse any residual tension over the flier, members of Delta Chi have circulated fliers urging students to attend an open forum Monday to speak out against racism. "We're an educational institution, and we will use this to discuss the issue and help students grow," Redmond said. In the flier announcing Monday's forum, Delta Chi members wrote, "The Delta Chi Fraternity is outraged by the egregious act perpetrated by students on this campus. We deny any involvement in the matter involving the flier posted on campus." "We are a fraternity based on integrity and character and are very upset that anyone would attempt to assassinate our character. For this reason, we are in full support of apprehending the perpetrators of such acts." At the bottom of the flier, the fraternity wrote: "Let's Stop Racism NOW!!!" |
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| From Times Staff Reports May 19, 2004 A visiting professor at Claremont McKenna College pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that she made up the story about a hate crime against her. Kerri Dunn, 39, faces one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report and two felony counts of insurance fraud. Prosecutors say Dunn falsely reported that a vandal had painted her car with racist and anti-Semitic slurs March 9 while she attended a campus forum on racism. |
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| (Aug. 5) -- A hate crime affects an entire community when one group is targeted with racial slurs. The whole neighborhood responded with outrage when someone scrawled racial slurs on one home. But there is a new twist on that story that has made the neighborhood even more upset. The couple who were living here has since moved out, but before one of them left the state he admitted that his girlfriend had the racial slurs painted on the home to try to avoid eviction. The graffiti was painted over after the Feb. 24 incident, but the hateful words of "No N***** Allowed" had pierced the neighborhood. The owner of the home, Lois Grillo, lived in the house for 33 years before she allowed a Hispanic woman and her African-American boyfriend to move in as the couple was in the process of buying the house. Grillo was shocked that someone would paint the racial slurs on the home. "I kind of knew in my heart that it couldn't be anyone else in this neighborhood because they welcomed everybody," she said. Grillo's suspicions were right: According to a police report, the man who was living there made a voluntary statement before he moved out of town in July. He claims that his ex-girlfriend had the racial slurs painted because they were going to be evicted when their house-purchase fell through. "She had her sons do it," Grillo said. She bought the paint and told them to do it. It was disclosed by her boyfriend who confessed that he didn't want to be a part of it." Jim Schwitalla, a neighbor, has lived here for 19 years and believed everyone in the neighborhood got along well. That's why he's relieved that it wasn't a racial incident among neighbors. "Everybody is welcome here as long as you do everything by the law," he said. "It's outrageous that somebody would make up something like that to accuse someone else of doing something wrong." Allen Lichtenstein, an attorney with the ACLU, says that if it's proven true, then it's a shame that someone would use racism as a false claim. "That's unfortunate, because it does tend to distract from the very serious issue of racism and bigotry that really does exist," he said. We tried to contact the woman who allegedly had the racial slurs painted on the home, but she has a new unlisted phone number and address. She could be charged for making a false statement, but because her ex-boyfriend has moved out of state it will be up to the district attorney's office if they want to bring him back here to try to prosecute this woman on a misdemeanor crime. |
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| Police: Suspect Knows Home's Occupant POSTED: 5:57 PM EDT April 28, 2004 DALE CITY, Va. -- A suspect was arrested Wednesday in a case of vandalism that police first thought was a hate crime. The vandalism happened late Saturday or early Sunday in Dale City. Someone spray painted swastikas and the words "white power" on a home. Through evidence and interviews, officers linked the vandalism to Clemon Wallace Allen (pictured, left), 49, of Dale City. Officers said he is the former boyfriend of the home's occupant. Allen turned himself over to police at his attorney's office Wednesday afternoon. He has been charged with felony destruction of property and will be in court on May 21. |
Will the FBI Protect Us?
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| Posted on: 2004-05-02 03:01:56 Homosexual activist vows to punish, torture and terrify his enemies. The day after the Matthew Hale verdict, an amoral trouble-maker posted the address and phone number of government mole Tony Evola on his Web site, with the suggestion, "In Case Anyone Wants To Say Hi." The site listed information for the wrong Anthony Evola. The man whose home address and phone number were posted is a 62-year-old school custodian. Now FBI agents and local police are providing "round-the-clock protection" to the unfortunate janitor, and have vowed to "increase monitoring of hate group Web sites." FBI agent Richard K. Ruminski told the Associated Press that a couple of unnamed Web sites have been of particular concern, with views "almost threatening in nature." "It concerns us to the point where we're going to see what legal actions can be taken in order to maybe legally take that Web site down," he said. Based on Agent Ruminski's statement, I fully expect the FBI to take immediate action against Matthew Foreman. No, not Matthew Hale -- Matthew Foreman. I also expect the FBI to see what it can do about maybe "taking down" the Web site Pridesource.com, which caters to Detroit area homosexuals. Mr. Foreman (pictured) is the new executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, DC. He has vowed to politically "torture" and "terrify" people like us, who openly oppose his organization's radical homosexual agenda. By "politically" torturing and terrifying us, he will be teaching us a lesson, because this is all-out war, he says. Foreman made his comments in an interview conducted by the homosexual news magazine Between the Lines (BTL), published online at Pridesource.com. Here's a sample. BTL: What do you hope to do on a proactive level? Foreman: I'm interested in going after... leaders that have launched these anti-gay initiatives. "We beat you, now we're gonna go back and we're going to affirmatively punish you" - people who launch this stuff, so that they understand not only that they're not going to win, but that there are consequences to it. "We would set up... committees to go in and terrify them... for a modest investment of money and torture these people, which would give me endless satisfaction. And the word would go out very quickly, "You know what, this really isn't worth it." Gollee geewillikers, that sounds "almost threatening in nature." Isn't that a crime? Matt Hale never did that. Will the government send a mole in to watch Foreman's every move, tape-record his personal conversations and suggest illegal activity in hopes that someone, oh please anyone, will take the bait? Will the FBI do its job to protect our snivel liberties? Is it even remotely possible? No, it isn't. |
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| It was a crime that had residents shaking their heads in dismay and disgust. But now that's turned to anger, after the arrest of two people for an explosion that police say was designed to look like a hate crime. It took place March 28th in Vaughan, when authorities were called to a business called Central Pallet on Rowntree Dairy Road. When they arrived, they found someone had blown up part of the building and painted swastikas on the front entrance. It appeared to be the latest in a series of hate crimes that had been plaguing the north end of the G.T.A. for weeks. But York Regional Police now contend it was all a ruse, after the Fire Marshal's investigation showed the blaze was arson, and was deliberately set. Authorities have now taken a man and his common-law wife into custody, charging them with a variety of offenses, including arson, fraud, and obstructing justice. Thirty-year-old Syzad Ally and 25-year-old Ramrattie Surujnath both made a court appearance earlier this week and have been released. They'll be back to face the judge again on July 6th. May 27, 2004 |
Judge finds her delinquent; sentencing to come later
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| By JONATHAN ATHENS Advocate Reporter NEWARK — A teenage girl has admitted to making up a story in late April that claimed four white boys had pledged to shoot black students at Newark High School. The teen, a 16-year-old girl, cried and apologized when she appeared before Judge Robert Hoover in Licking County Juvenile Court on Wednesday morning. During the hearing, the girl changed her pleas of denial to pleas of admission on one count of falsification, a first-degree misdemeanor, and one count of making a false alarm, a fifth-degree felony. Hoover found her delinquent on both charges. The girl, who voluntarily withdrew from the high school, is currently under house arrest. She will be sentenced following a pre-sentence investigation. The girl told Hoover she made up the story because she wanted to get the boys suspended. One of them was a former boyfriend. Rumors of the bogus plot led authorities to increase police presence at Newark High School and hold an emergency meeting of the local chapter of the NAACP to address citizen concerns. |
2005
The Denver Post local School holds forum on "kill list" incident
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By Melissa Cassutt Denver Post Staff Writer Friday, March 25, 2005 -Aurora - Elizabeth Reynolds knows what it's like when a kid gets to a breaking point. Her sixth-grade son, a student at Laredo Middle School, once got there. After he was bullied for months, he was suspended for getting in a fight, she said. Reynolds said two racial "kill lists" put together by another student -hoax documents found Tuesday at Laredo - were exactly the "cry for help" that is addressed too late. That 13-year-old African-American student may face charges. Laredo opened its doors Thursday night to nearly 200 parents, teachers and community members to voice their concerns about the how the school handled the incident and what can be done in the future. The biggest question from parents was: Is this a sign of another Columbine? Acting Police Chief Terry Jones said no. "All our indications are this is an attempt of a young person trying to fit in," Jones said. "There's a lot of peer pressure." Police suspect the boy might have written the list to avoid getting beaten up by another student. He included himself on the list to establish himself as part of a "victimized" group, police said. Police also believe the list may be a reaction to an earlier assault on the boy that was so violent he required dental work. "My heart goes out to the student. This child is hurting," said principal Janet Sawyer. "Do we have to be angry about it? No. We have to help this child." Taylor Bruinsma, an eighth-grader at Laredo, said more students are bullied than the school realizes. He said students don't say anything because they don't want to be thought of as snitches. "You don't really want to tell because you have a chance of getting beat up," Bruinsma said. Parents suggested peer mentoring programs or a school hotline to encourage kids to anonymously report problems. Staff writer Melissa Cassutt can be reached at 303-820-1475 or mcassutt@denverpost.com .
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