FLORIDA: Miami Man Charged With Mosque Bomb Threat Posted Confederate Flag Online
MIAMI — Last October, Cutler Bay resident Dustin Hughes stamped his profile picture with an image of a Confederate flag and the message “Heritage not hate.” But hate is exactly what has landed Hughes in jail on felony charges.
Prosecutors say Hughes repeatedly called the Jamaat ul Muttaqeen mosque in Pembroke Pines and left voicemails threatening to blow the place up and kill all the worshippers inside. The case marks yet another instance in which someone posting white-supremacist or neo-Confederate iconography has been arrested on hate-crime charges.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Florida federal court last Wednesday, Hughes allegedly called the mosque May 5 at 4:06 p.m. and left the following voicemail:
I planted a bomb in your temple; I’m gonna blow your **** temple up, you **** Muslim piece of ****. Where you guys have your sanctuary and worship Allah, I’m gonna blow that ***** up. l have a detonator, l’m gonna cause that **** to go off, you guys are all gonna be up in flames after l’m done with you! You guys wanna come here and cause mayhem to America, well, I’m gonna cause mayhem to your religion ’cause your religion is nothing but lies. Lies, lies, lies from the Devil! Where’s Allah now?
The feds say the mosque immediately called Pembroke Pines Police, who swept the building and found no bombs. But it turns out a man with the same voice had left three other threatening voicemails within the past week. The cops simply checked the mosque’s caller ID, and Hughes’ name popped up. Investigators later confirmed the number belonged to him.
The feds arrested Hughes at his home May 15. After he was taken to a cell for an interview, prosecutors say, Hughes admitted he had made the calls. When officials mentioned the calls terrified members of the mosque, Hughes clapped his hands together and shouted, “Good!” prosecutors allege.
“During the interview, Hughes stated, in substance, that he wanted to scare members of the mosque and upset them,” the feds say.
After the arrest, the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights organization, released a statement thanking law-enforcement officials for taking action. CAIR also released a copy of Hughes’ Confederate-flag post.
“The safety and security of our community remains a top priority for CAIR-Florida,” spokesperson Wilfredo Ruiz said in a news release. “It is shameful and alarming to continue witnessing an increment in hate crimes against Florida Muslims and their places of worship and education.”
–miaminewtimes.com
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VIRGINIA: Mother Claims Son was Victim of Hit-and-Run Hate Crime
STAFFORD, Va. – The mother of a man involved in a hit-and-run crash on Interstate 95 in Stafford County believes her son was targeted and was a victim of a hate crime.
Details about this incident spread like wildfire after Nsenga Jones posted on Facebook that her son’s car was rammed by a pickup truck flying a Confederate flag. The crash sent Jones’ son’s car into a guardrail and then a ditch.
Jones said the incident was unprovoked and she wrote, “These bastards tried to kill my son.” Her passionate Facebook post received more than 2,000 shares with many people commenting that this was not the first time a crash like this has happened.
“I don’t care what race you are – any mother wants to protect their child when something like that comes across and you want to protect them when they are in an accident,” said Jones. “So imagine when you find out the accident was done to your child on purpose.”
Virginia State Police confirmed to FOX 5 that the hit-and-run incident happened on northbound I-95 at mile marker 138 at around 3 a.m. Friday. Jones’ son Onaje Bullen was driving from Norfolk, Virginia, where he attends school, to Maryland for a funeral.
Police said they alerted authorities further up the interstate about the hit-and-run, but the vehicle was never found.
Police would not confirm if a Confederate flag was on the striking truck.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said it saw the post on Facebook and proactively launched their own preliminary investigation. However, officials said they have no records of any other cases involving a gray truck with a Confederate flag.
Because this happened on I-95, Virginia State Police are handling this specific case.
–fox5dc.com
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