Two Men Indicted on Federal Hate Crime Charges in South Carolina
Two men in South Carolina have been indicted on federal hate crime charges in connection with robberies targeting Hispanic customers outside gas stations and a Mexican grocery store.
Charles Antonio Clippard, 26, and Michael Joseph Knox, 28, are accused of forcibly taking cash, cellphones and, in one instance, a car after following shoppers to their homes and holding them at gunpoint in 2021, according to a federal grand jury indictment issued Monday. The Columbia-area men intentionally picked victims they identified as Mexican or Hispanic, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.
"The indictment alleges that the defendants committed three armed robberies as part of the conspiracy, including one carjacking, because of the victims' race and national origin and because those individuals were using places of public accommodation," the Justice Department said.
South Carolina is one of two states in the country without laws that allow harsher punishments for violent hate crimes. The other is Wyoming. The 2015 racist massacre of nine Black members of the Emanuel AME church in Charleston has fueled the push to add a state-level hate crimes law in South Carolina, but some Republican state senators have repeatedly stalled the proposal.
Men Indicted for Hate Crimes, Robbery, and Carjacking
Two men, identified as Clippard and Knox, have been indicted for targeting and robbing multiple individuals. The grand jury indictment refers to the victims as John Doe 1, John Doe 2, John Doe 3, and John Doe 4. The filing also alleges that the defendants targeted "others because of their race or national origin, and because the victims had been using a public accommodation." One of the incidents resulted in bodily injury, according to the indictment.
Clippard and Knox have been indicted on multiple charges, including three counts of hate crimes, three counts of firearms offenses, one count of carjacking, and one count of conspiracy. The firearms offenses carry a minimum sentence of 21 years in prison. Each hate crime charge can result in up to 10 years in prison, and the carjacking charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.
The attorneys representing the defendants have not yet responded to phone messages left by The Associated Press. The case is being investigated by federal authorities in Columbia, in collaboration with the Richland County Sheriff's Department and local police.
