Hate Crime Hoaxes

Hate crime hoaxes are rampant in our society today. They are almost completely
unpunished, even though they should be punished similarly to the punishment that
would have been given to the putative hate criminal. The hoaxer, once discovered, is
given counseling, not a jail sentence. And the media forget about hate crime hoaxes as
soon as they are exposed and never inquire as to whether the next big hate crime story
is a hoax. The alleged victim is always believed until it has become clear that he or
she was simply attempting to defame the diverse white American peoples, and then
the victim is forgiven by the dominant media culture, the formerly outraged
politicians and college administrators and the friends and supporters of the alleged
victim.
Three Criteria for Hate Crime Hoaxes
Generally speaking, any alleged hate crime that meets these three criteria is a hate
crime hoax, and the police know this.
(1) There is no witness. However, in our over-crowded American campuses, parks,
sidewalks, and urban areas, it is very unusual for there to be a complete absence of
security camerass, street light cameras, and witnesses.
(2) There is a political or academic pay-off in terms of public recognition, pending
criminal legislation in Congress, financial gain, or canceled tests.
(3) The criminal act is limited to writing, whether on the body of the alleged victim or
on property. Sometimes the hoaxer is more than usually stupid and ends up with
mirror-image text on his or her forehead.
Bing Search Engine: 4 650 000 Items on Hate Crime Hoaxes
There is now such a large number of documented hate crime hoaxes that the best way
to learn about them is to go directly to the Bing search engine, type in hate crime
hoaxes to see Bing's links to 4,650,000 items. This item count is accurate as of March
8, 2012.
Bing Search Engine: 16 900 000 Items on Faked Hate Crimes
The Bing search engine shows 16 900 000 items if faked hate crimes is typed in. This
item count is accurate as of March 8, 2012.
Congressional testimony on hate crime hoaxes:
Testimony of Dennis Jay, Executive Director, Coalition Against Insurance Fraud,
Judiciary Committee, U. S. House of Representatives, August 4, 1999. Quote:

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, DC-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 $ 147000
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 AfricanAmerican 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 9 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.