A California man was charged with a hate crime for allegedly throwing rocks at a car driven by an Asian woman with her 6-year-old son in tow.
Roger Janke, 28, who is a resident of Fullerton in Orange County, pleaded not guilty Friday to felony counts of violating a person’s civil rights, in addition to vandalism, and a misdemeanor charge of throwing a substance at a vehicle. Janke is reportedly homeless and has had previous encounters with law enforcement.
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Janke was arrested March 31 and is being held on a $51,500 bail. He faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison and six months in a county jail, according to the Orange County Register.
On the day of his arrest, Janke allegedly threw two rocks at a 38-year-old woman’s Tesla, damaging its bumper and cracking its windshield. The woman drove to a nearby park and called 911 after the encounter.
The incident could be a hate crime because the suspect allegedly made disparaging comments against Koreans once he was taken into custody, officials in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said. He apparently told police that Koreans were trying to control him.
“I refuse to tolerate hate in Orange County,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “A woman and her child should be able to drive down the street without worrying about being attacked because of the color of their skin. Our commitment to continuing to prosecute hate crimes to the fullest extent of the law is sending a strong message to all the haters out there — there is no room for hate here — or anywhere.”
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Janke previously pleaded not guilty to multiple misdemeanor counts of vandalism and drug-related charges in four other open cases before the recent charges. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 16.
From 2019 to 2020, there has been a recorded uptick in hate crimes against Asian Americans. The largest increase in hate crimes toward Asian Americans occurred in New York and California, a study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino found.
