News

Actions

Hurricane man sentenced in hate crime case

Posted at 1:09 PM, Dec 01, 2014
and last updated 2014-12-01 15:09:06-05

SALT LAKE CITY — A Hurricane man charged with a hate crime in southern Utah was given his sentence Monday.

Robert Keller, 70, was charged in May with criminal interference with a right to fair housing. He pleaded guilty in September, according to a statement from the FBI.

Keller was charged after he allegedly wrote a note to two Caucasian family members of the family threatening to kill them if they did not make their African-American family member leave their home and the community.

“To threaten to kill a 14-year-old boy because he’s black and walking down the street with a white girl is completely unjustified and the message is we’re not going to tolerate that in any of our communities,” said Carlos Esqueda, Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Keller was sentenced to a maximum of one year in prison, one year of supervised release and a $1,000 fine.