JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES GUILTY PLEA
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 a guilty plea regarding alleged civil rights violations.

Harley Hermes, 21, pled guilty today to conspiring to violate the civil rights of four African American teenagers. Hermes’s co-conspirator in the case, Shaun Derifield, pled guilty last week to the same conspiracy allegation.

The guilty plea emanates 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.

“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.

Hermes and Derifield face maximum prison terms of ten years, as well as maximum fines of $250,000. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois will determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the United States Sentencing Guidelines.

“People of all backgrounds should be free to walk through public areas in any town in America without being threatened with violence by persons with racist views,” said Patrick Fitzgerald. “Certainly, teenagers should be free to attend high school football games without having to fear being assaulted.”

The indictment is a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Michael K. Khoury, a trial attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Haling are jointly prosecuting the case.

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