LIVONIA MAN INDICTED
FOR FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
FOR THREATENING AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESIDENTS
WASHINGTON
- Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Grace
Chung Becker and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Stephen
J. Murphy announced today that Curtis M. Gottler of Livonia, Mich., was
indicted by a federal grand jury for hate crimes and other charges stemming
from threats he allegedly made to a local couple and their real estate
agent in an attempt to keep the couple from selling their home to African-Americans.
The defendant was also charged with a hate crime and a threat for sending
a threatening letter through the U.S. mail to an African-American resident
of Livonia.
One count in the indictment charges Gottler with attempting to interfere
with the right of the couple to sell their home without discrimination
on the basis of race. According to the indictment, on Aug. 24, 2007, Gottler
left a handwritten note at the couple's home indicating that he would
track them down and harm them if they sold their home to African-Americans.
Gottler
is also charged with one count of attempting to interfere with the real
estate agent's right to assist the couple in selling their home without
regard to race, and one count of making a threat in interstate commerce.
According to the indictment, these charges relate to a threatening e-mail
Gottler sent on Sept. 15, 2007, to the real estate agent who was representing
the couple in the sale of their home.
Gottler
is also charged with two counts stemming from a letter he allegedly sent
on June 25, 2007, to an African-American resident of Livonia, in which
he threatened to harm the resident if the resident failed to leave Livonia.
For this incident, the indictment charges Gottler with one hate crime
and one count of sending a threat through the U.S. mail.
If
convicted, Gottler faces a maximum punishment of 13 years of imprisonment
and a fine of $800,000.
Federal
Bureau of Investigation Special Agent David Harmon investigated this case.
The case will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Thompson
from the Eastern District of Michigan, and Trial Attorney Patricia Sumner
from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations, and the
defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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