On April 27, 2021, the defendant pled guilty to one count of interference with the right to fair housing, a hate crime, and one count of sending threatening communications. The FBI investigation identified several other people who had been similarly threatened and harassed by the defendant. On June 26, 2020, only a few hours before the defendant was located and arrested by the FBI, the defendant left the victim a voicemail message stating, “The police are not going to help you. I should send you to a concentration camp.” You better be gone because if you’re in Easter weekend I’m going to stick you in an oven. Or turned in a gas chamber.” On April 8, 2020, the first day of Passover, he wrote “I’m going to kill you. It would be a shame if your house were used to light the menorah. On December 23, 2019, the first day of Hannukah, the defendant sent the woman a message that included the words “Suns about to go down.
Some of the threatening text messages contained anti-Semitic references to the Holocaust. He also threatened to blow up her house and car. In several text messages and voicemails, which continued until June 2020, the defendant threatened to murder and seriously injure the woman.
In November 2019, a woman, who is Jewish, began receiving numerous threatening text messages, voicemails and Facebook posts. The defendant faces up to 15 years in federal prison for his role in the attack. During the attack, multiple victims were injured, including one individual who lost feeling in their legs and collapsed multiple times due to their injuries. The group drove to the restaurant, stormed inside and attacked several victims inside.
The defendant, who is Armenian-American, sent a text message stating that he planned to go “hunting for urks.” Later that day, he met with Armenian-American friends to protest what they considered to be Turkish aggression against Armenians, express their contempt for Turkey and show their support for Armenia. Turkey and Armenia are neighboring countries in western Asia that have a long history of conflict, in September 2020, tensions in Turkish and Armenian communities escalated worldwide, including in the United States. While the victims were held at gunpoint, some were physically assaulted, at least one victim was sexually assaulted, and all of the victims were taunted with gay slurs.Ī California man pled guilty to federal criminal charges for attacking five victims at a family-owned Turkish restaurant last year while shouting anti-Turkish slurs, hurling chairs at the victims, and threatening to kill them. When the men arrived, the defendants held the men at gunpoint and forced them to drive to local ATMs to withdraw cash from their accounts. Using Grindr, a social media dating platform used primarily by gay men, the defendants lured men to an apartment complex in Dallas. The four defendants admitted that they conspired to target men in and around Dallas for violent crimes. Arbery was a criminal.Īll three defendants face sentences of up to life in prison.įour Texas men have been sentenced to prison for their involvement in a scheme to target gay men for violent crimes: one to more than 11 years, another to 22 years, a third to 20 years, and most recently, a fourth was sentenced to more than 23 years. Evidence showed that each defendant held racist beliefs that led them to assume, without reason, that Mr.
FAMOUS GAY MEN UNDER 35 YEARS OLD TRIAL
Arbery as he attempted to escape.Īn important part of the trial was proving that the defendants acted because of Mr. In the ensuing struggle, one of the men shot and killed Mr. Arbery from leaving after surrounding him. The third defendant joined the chase, and all three men tried to prevent Mr. They yelled at him, used their truck to cut off his route, and threatened him with guns. Arbery jogging, two of the defendants armed themselves, got into a truck, and chased him through the neighborhood. A jury found three Georgia men guilty of hate crimes and attempted kidnapping in the pursuit and killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a young Black man who was jogging on a public road.