Worden Butler and Alexis Hartnett charged after FBI search house in Horry county following alleged racially motivated campaign
South Carolina, where Nikki Haley was governor for six years, is just one of two states without hate crimes laws. So the feds had to pick up the slack when some blatant incidents took place in Horry County.
The FBI has searched a house in South Carolina after a white couple allegedly put up a cross that faced their Black neighbors and set it on fire. On Wednesday morning, federal agents searched the house of 28-year-old Worden Butler and 27-year-old Alexis Hartnett in Horry county for a “civil rights investigation involving allegations of racial discrimination”, WBTW reports the agency saying. According to Horry county police reports reviewed by WPDE, between 23 and 24 November, Butler and Hartnett, who are white, allegedly harassed and stalked their neighbors, who are Black, with “racially motivated words and actions”. In one incident, Butler and Hartnett reportedly erected a cross that faced their neighbors’ privacy fence. “The cross was facing the victims’ home and the suspect set the cross on fire,” a police report said. The neighbors have been identified as Shawn and Monica Williams, WMBF reports. Speaking to the outlet, Monica Williams said, “There was a cross burning about eight feet from our fence … We were speechless because we’ve never experienced something like that.” “He’s blatant with the N-word … He’s chased off our surveyors. He’s chased off people from the water and sewer department,” she added. Butler was also accused of publicizing the Williamses’ location on Facebook by posting a picture of their mailbox which has their address posted on it, one of the police reports said. It added that Butler posted on Facebook that he was “summoning the devil’s army and I don’t care if they and I both go down in the same boat”. [ ... ] South Carolina is one of two states – the other being Wyoming – without hate crime laws based on someone’s race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, national origin or physical or mental ability, according to the Associated Press.
While Butler and Hartnett can't be charged with hate crimes in South Carolina, Horry County (which includes Myrtle Beach) is charging them with second-degree harassment and third-degree assault and battery.
^^^ They sorta look the way you'd expect white supremacists to look. Hope they like orange.
