4 men held on hate crime charges

The suspects, members of a white supremacist group, are accused of trying to kill a black man on their way to a neo-Nazi rally in L.A.
By Ashraf Khalil and Sharon Bernstein, Times Staff Writers
December 13, 2006

Four men who authorities say are members of a white supremacist group were charged Tuesday with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing a black man at a Claremont shopping center over the weekend, a case prosecutors have labeled a hate crime.

Police say the four were passing through Claremont Friday night on their way to a white supremacist rally the next day outside the federal building in Westwood when the incident occurred.

"They were most likely just here for a pit stop," said Claremont Police Lt. Paul Davenport.

Police arrested the suspects at the rally near UCLA the next day.

A white supremacist Internet bulletin board detailed the arrests and predicted that authorities will have trouble convicting the men.

Chad Timothy Milson, 20, of Yucca Valley; Anthony Scott Allen, 23, of Big Bear City; Ryan Christopher White, 28, of Joshua Tree; and Joseph Dale McCool, 20, of Yucca Valley are being held on $1-million bail apiece. Attorneys for the suspects could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Each man faces charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. All eight charges are considered hate crimes, according to the complaint filed by Deputy Dist. Atty. George Castello, a distinction that would add several years to the sentence if the men are convicted.

According to police, the men were among a large group of white men who attacked two black men Friday night outside near the intersection of Indian Hill Boulevard and San Jose Avenue.

Authorities said the white men exchanged words with the two black men before the violence occurred.

One of the victims required hospitalization for treatment of multiple stab wounds. That man, Charles Washington, has since been released from the hospital, Davenport said.

Detectives, with the help of witnesses, identified a suspect vehicle and several potential suspects. The next day, UCLA police spotted the suspects' vehicle in a university garage. More than 20 people were detained before the rally until a witness to Friday's attack could be taken to the rally to make identifications, Davenport said.

Two other participants in the rally were detained for parole violations.

The Saturday rally at the Federal Building was part of Martyr's Day, a nationwide series of protests and events commemorating an iconic 1980s neo-Nazi group called Bruder Schweigen, also known as the Order.

Order founder Robert Matthews was killed in a shootout with the FBI in 1984 in Washington state.

Several other group leaders remain incarcerated and are considered by the neo-Nazi movement to be political prisoners.

The group was known for robbing banks to raise funds for white supremacist activists.

ashraf.khalil@latimes.com

sharon.bernstein@latimes.com

Source: LATimes