South Carolina Man Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime Charge for Defacing Charlotte Jewish Complex with Nazi-Symbol Flyers
A 24-year-old man from Indian Land, South Carolina, pleaded guilty on November 10 in federal court to a hate crime charge for posting threatening flyers bearing Nazi symbols on multiple buildings at a Jewish community complex in Charlotte, North Carolina. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina announced the guilty plea.
U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said Dalton Ray Mullis appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark T. Odulio and pleaded guilty to intentionally defacing multiple buildings within a Charlotte complex used by the Jewish community for religious worship, education, and community activities.
According to filed plea documents and court proceedings, on the evening of January 19, 2026, Mullis traveled to the Foundation of Shalom Park complex in Charlotte, which includes the Charlotte Jewish Day School, the Holocaust Memorial, and facilities of multiple organizations that run Jewish religious, cultural, and educational programs. As Mullis admitted in court, he affixed threatening, antisemitic flyers to the school, the Holocaust Memorial, and an employee building. The flyers included threatening messages and depicted a hangman's noose, a swastika, and a Totenkopf, or death's head, historically associated with the German Nazi party and SS. Surveillance cameras captured Mullis spraying one of the entrances to the school with what appears to be an adhesive spray and placing a flyer onto the door.
Court documents also show that between January and April 2026, Mullis posted antisemitic messages and imagery on multiple social media sites through accounts he owned and operated. Mullis remains in federal custody, and a sentencing date has not been set.
U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said posting Nazi and lynching symbols on the Jewish Community Center creates fear and hate and has no place in the community, and that everyone is entitled to practice their faith without fear, intimidation, or harassment. Acting Assistant Attorney General Jesus A. Osete of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said the guilty plea shows the division and federal authorities remain vigilant to stop anti-religious and antisemitic vandalism and acts of violence. FBI Charlotte Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis said the plea holds the defendant accountable for distributing threatening materials intended to intimidate members of the community based on their religious beliefs.
The case was investigated by the FBI Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, with assistance from the FBI in Columbia, the Lancaster County, South Carolina, Sheriff's Office, the Waxhaw Police Department, and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dallas Kaplan and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorneys Taylor Payne and Thomas Cilla are prosecuting the case. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国司法部总部大楼（四级图库联邦核心包固定图）。 / Image: U.S. Department of Justice headquarters building (fixed image from the federal core asset pack).
