Utah Man Arrested For Hate Crime

Robert Keller

70-year old Robert Keller of Utah was arrested because a an African-American socialized with Whites, and it was more than Keller could stand.

Keller wrote a letter to KUTV saying that he would slice the throat of the young man.   Keller explained;

“I said, ‘What is going to happen down the road, when the black kid starts chasing these girls?  What I seen set me off, when he was walking down the street with a white gal.”

Last year, Keller wrote a note leaving it at the clubhouse of the complex that said;

“If I catch that [n-word] around my daughter, I’ll kill the ass h— and then come find what stupid person brought him here in the first place.”  

The letter was submitted with the probable cause statement from the police officer.

Keller was originally charged with state misdemeanor harassment charges. The family then took the matter to Tri-State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which alerted federal authorities. Keller is charged with two federal misdemeanor counts of criminal interference with a right to fair housing and for using both threats and a racial slur against the teen in a letter to both the teenager’s family and their local homeowner’s association.

Keller, a retired postal worker, was to appear in court on those charges. He failed to appear. On Tuesday, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest. His attorney, Terry Hutchinson, told KUTV that Keller wasn’t aware that he was scheduled to be in court to face the additional federal charges.

If convicted, Keller faces up to one year in prison on each federal count.

Click here to see a video of Keller’s interview.

For more on the story, here is the link to the Salt Lake Tribune.