SEATTLE, Wash. — Two Oregon men have been charged with a federal hate crime for their alleged involvement in the beating of a Black man at a bar in Lynwood, Washington during 2018, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A total of four men from across the Pacific Northwest were indicated in federal court in connection with the December 8, 2018 attack. 44-year-old Jason Desimas of Tacoma, Washington, 43-year-old Jason Stanley of Boise, Idaho, 38-year-old Randy Smith of Eugene, and 24-year-old Daniel Dorson of Corvallis are accused of "aiding and abetting one another, as they punched and kicked a Black man and making derogatory comments about his actual and perceived race."
Two other men were also assaulted during the attack, the FBI said.
Both Smith and Dorson are in custody in Oregon, the former on unrelated charges. They'll be transferred to Washington state for arraignment, the FBI said. Dorson is set to appear at the U.S. District Court in Eugene on Friday.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington has a long and distinguished history of prosecuting those who act on hate,” said U.S. Attorney Brian Moran. “Whether it is ‘The Order’ in the 1980s, the ‘Atomwaffen’ of today, or this group accused of assaulting a Black man at a local business. These defendants will be held accountable for their criminal conduct.”
In addition to the hate crime charges, each of the four men are accused of giving false statements to FBI investigators. Desimas told investigators that no-one used racial slurs during the assault. Stanley claimed that he was not in Washington state on the day of the attack. Smith allegedly lied about how his knuckles came to be bloody.
Dorson, one of the Oregon men, claimed that he had no plans to attend a white supremacist "Martyr's Day" observance in Washington, and said that he did not own a jacket associated with white supremacist groups. The FBI asserts that those statements were false.
White supremacists call December 8 "Martyr's Day," according to the Anti-Defamation League, marking the 1984 death of Robert Jay Mathews in a shootout with federal agents on Whidbey Island in Washington. Mathews was a neo-Nazi and leader of white supremacist terrorist group "The Order."
The federal hate crime charges carry a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. The false statements charge carries a maximum penalty of five years.
“The FBI is committed to investigating federal hate crimes and protecting civil rights," said FBI Seattle Acting Special Agent in Charge Earl Camp. "These violent acts motivated by bias are not only an attack on the victim, but also threaten and intimidate an entire community and are contrary to our values of equality for all Americans to live without fear.”
