A Mississippi man has pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime for burning a cross to intimidate his black neighbors, according to the Justice Department.
Axel C. Cox, 24, of Gulfport, Mississippi, admitted to violating the Fair Housing Act when he used threatening and racially derogatory comments toward a black family and burned a cross to intimidate them in December 2020, according to court documents.
Axel Cox faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
(MDOC)
Cox admitted that he assembled the wooden cross in his front yard from materials from his home and placed it in his front yard where his neighbors could see it, according to court documents. He also addressed the family with racially derogatory language, according to records.
Cox then doused the cross with motor oil and set it on fire. According to the Justice Department, Cox admitted that he burned the cross because of the race of his next-door neighbors.
3 FLORIDA TEENS ARRESTED FOR RACIST AND ANTI-SEMITIC GRAFFITI IN BATHROOMS AT PARKS AND GOLF COURSES
A grand jury indicted him in September. Cox’s attorney, Jim Davis, filed a notice of intent for him to plead guilty to the burning of the cross on Nov. 22, 2022. Davis could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Davis told the Biloxi Sun Herald that Cox was reacting to her neighbors allegedly shooting and killing her dog. He added that his client acted “totally inappropriately.”
The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups have long practiced cross burning to intimidate blacks and Jews.
“Burning a cross invokes the long and painful history, particularly in Mississippi, of intimidation and imminent physical violence against Black people,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute those who use racially motivated violence to remove people from their homes or communities.”
Cox is scheduled for sentencing on March 2, 2023. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The Gulfport Police Department and the FBI Jackson Field Office investigated the case.
