JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES SENTENCING
IN ILLINOIS CIVIL RIGHTS CASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights R. Alexander Acosta and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald announced today the sentencing of an Illinois man regarding civil rights violations.

Harley Hermes, one of two men who attacked a group of African-American students walking home from a high school football game, has been sentenced to twenty months in prison. Hermes, 21, previously pled guilty to conspiring to violate the civil rights of four African-American teenagers. Hermes’s co-conspirator in the case, Shaun Derifield, also pled guilty to the same conspiracy allegation and is scheduled for sentencing on November 19, 2003.

“The Justice Department remains deeply committed to investigating and prosecuting perpetrators of racial violence and holding them accountable for their actions,” said R. Alexander Acosta. “This prosecution sends a strong message to those who would commit racially-motivated violence implicating federally-protected activities that such acts of terror will not be tolerated in this country.”

These convictions stemmed from an incident that occurred in Fox Lake, Illinois on August 30, 2002. Hermes and Derifield, both white supremacists, were together with other individuals at Derifield’s Fox Lake residence. The four victims were walking near the residence while returning to their homes from a high school football game. Derifield and Hermes chased after the victims, shouted racial epithets, threatened to injure and kill the victims, and demanded that the victims get out of the defendants’ town. Derifield threatened one of the victims while holding a knife to her throat.

“Today’s sentence, along with the prison term that we expect to be imposed against Derifield next week, warns those who would commit hate crimes that they will receive the punishment they deserve and alerts victims of such violence that we will vindicate their civil rights,” said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this matter. Michael K. Khoury, a trial attorney with the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Haling jointly prosecuted the case.

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