US jewel thief charged with hate crimes for targeting South Asian women
Darpan News Desk IANS, 05 Oct, 2022 01:22 PM
New York, Oct 5 (IANS) A California man has been charged with hate crimes and robbery after he attacked and robbed 14 South Asian women, mostly wearing sarees and bindis, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said.
Lathan Johnson, 37, from Palo Alto, took necklaces off his victims, and sped away in a getaway car. In the process, he also injured the women, mostly in the 50-73 age group.
The estimated worth of all the stolen necklaces is about $35,000.
"Almost all the victims wore a saree, bindi, or other types of ethnic attire when they were attacked," the District Attorney's office said, and added that the spree of attacks, which started in June, mostly took place in San Jose, Milpitas, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen vowed to pursue convictions for anyone who attacked others due to their race or ethnicity.
"I say to our South Asian community that anyone who targets and attacks you will be arrested and treated with the utmost severity under our law. Santa Clara County's precious diversity is our strength, our superpower - not a criminal opportunity," Rosen said in a statement.
The Santa Clara Police Department and the US Marshal's Office apprehended Johnson, but the first agency to tie him to the crimes was the Milpitas Police Department. They were able to connect him to a getaway car.
If convicted, Johnson will face prison time. The District Attorney and South Asian community leaders will be attending the hearing today in San Jose.
Late last year, the Santa Clara District Attorney's Office charged a group of men with hate crimes and robbery for targeting Asian women during a spree of purse snatching. Those cases are still pending.
At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed on February 14 in a suicide attack claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group.
Even through JeM, responsible for the Pulwama terror attack, and LeT, responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, were banned by Pakistan, heads of both the terrorist groups -- Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed respectively -- roam freely in Pakistan.
H-1B Visa Rules: The White House will take a final call on it, before a formal regulation in this regard could be issued and the Department of Homeland Security can inform a federal court, where a lawsuit on this issue is pending. The entire process could take from a few weeks to several months.
The international terror financing watchdog FATF on Friday condemned the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans and decided to continue the ‘grey’ listing of Pakistan for its failure to stop funding of terrorist groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jamat-ud-Dawa.
A statement issued by the Interior Ministry also said the crackdown on Jaish "has been taken in line with the decision of the National Security Committee meeting held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan".
Pakistan on Thursday re-imposed a ban on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), formed by Hafiz Saaed to sidestep the ban on his Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and its charity arm, the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation.
