Vandalism, hate crime claims `fabricated`

[lostinblue 1,989]

Investigators: Vandalism, hate crime claims from Cordova family were `fabricated`

Posted: Dec 01, 2015 5:37 AM EST

<em class="wnDate">Tuesday, December 1, 2015 5:37 AM EST</em>Updated: Dec 01, 2015 8:42 AM EST

ORANGEBURG COUNTY, SC (WIS) -

Orangeburg County Sheriff's Department investigators have determined that claims of a hate crime committed against a Cordova family "had been fabricated."

MOREAdditional LinksPoll

Last week the family said their vehicles and home had been vandalized by two men in a pickup truck flying a Confederate and American flags. The family also said one family member received threatening text messages supposedly because she was married to a man who is from India and was assumed to be Muslim.

"The text message on Thursday was from the 'Council of Patriots,’” George Daniels described the messages to a family member. “They said she was a jihad loving [expletive] and all this stuff."

On Monday night, the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Department posted the following message on its Facebook page regarding the incident:

The Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office has concluded that claims of a hate crime perpetrated against an individual currently residing in Orangeburg County had been fabricated.

Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said an exhaustive investigation into claims several individuals displaying a Confederate flag while smashing the victim’s windows are false.

“My detectives conducted an unbiased, thorough investigation into the allegations someone had committed these crimes against this individual,” the sheriff said. “What we found was this individual had made the entire story up.”

The man, 41, who is currently residing at a Cordova residence, told relatives someone had thrown bricks through the man’s residence window as well as smashed windows on the man’s vehicle. Those relatives, in turn, filed a report with the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 21.

“I immediately had an investigator assigned to establish the man’s story and to pursue any and all suspects involved,” Ravenell said. “However, the suspects, the texts messages – all fabricated.”

Investigators believe the motive behind the tale is domestic in nature.

No charges are expected since the man himself did not make a report. The story was relayed to law enforcement through relatives, who believed the man’s tale with no intent of maliciousness on their part.

Had the man himself filed a report, he could be facing a charge of filing a false police report.

http://www.wistv.com/story/30636376/investigators-determine-claims-of-vandalism-against-cordova-family-as-hate-crime-were-fabricated

The Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office has concluded that claims of a hate crime perpetrated against an individual currently residing in Orangeburg County had been fabricated.

Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said an exhaustive investigation into claims several individuals displaying a Confederate flag while smashing the victim’s windows are false.

“My detectives conducted an unbiased, thorough investigation into the allegations someone had committed these crimes against this individual,” the sheriff said. “What we found was this individual had made the entire story up.”

[lostinblue 1,989]

Muslim leader denounces terror attack against Orangeburg County man and his home

ORANGEBURG COUNTY, SC (WIS) -

Bo Daniels says he was injured fighting terrorists overseas, but he's now battling them here at home.

MOREAdditional LinksPoll

"What these boys are doing is falsehood," Bo said. "It's ignorance. It's hateful. If it was something they were proud of, they would do it in the open like a man."

Daniels' 41-year-old brother-in-law said two white men in a pick-up truck pulled up to his home off Mack Road on Thursday and talked to him. Daniels said the two asked a number of questions about his brother-in-law's wife, but that's not all.

"They asked him if he was a Muslim. He's an Indian from India. He has a dark complexion and straight black hair,” said George Daniels, Bo's father and father-in-law of the Indian man.

He said his son-in-law didn't think much of it until early Saturday morning before dawn when his car alarm started blasting.

"He was standing up on the porch right up here, and he saw two gentlemen in the yard, two Caucasian males. There was a dark pick-up truck parked there in the yard,” George said.

The 41-year-old man, who didn't wish to be on camera or even give his name out of fear of retaliation, didn't see much more as a barrage of bricks rained down, including one that narrowly missed him.

He didn't get a good look at the attackers and said their faces were obscured with masks. He did notice both a Confederate flag and American flag in the bed of their pick-up truck.

But the man, who grew up Hindu, tells WIS he did hear words like "Muslim," "Islam," and "ISIS" as windows were smashed by the two attackers.

"The one that was thrown through the window there ended up down here on the floor,” George said. “Stupid people are the kind of people that do this."

An incident report details the events noted that the vandals did about $16,000 worth of damage.

The Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office is investigating the attack. George believes it's a hate crime, since his daughter also got a couple of text messages from a now disconnected number.

"The text message on Thursday was from the 'Council of Patriots,’” he said. “They said she was a jihad loving b**ch and all this stuff."

"I've never heard of the 'Council of Patriots," Bo said, "but I'm very familiar with how they're going about doing things. They remind me of the Taliban, and I know that firsthand."

The family received yet another threatening text message on Tuesday afternoon.

"The Muslim jihadist will face the virgins and Allah this week,” it read.

As deputies continue to investigate an attack against a man's home in Cordova after suspects assumed he was a Muslim, the leader of the Peace and Integration Council of North America is denouncing the crime.

"I would consider, certainly, we condemn such action and such actions," Chaudry Sadiq said.

The family is hoping law enforcement will eventually make arrests and the hate ultimately comes to an end.

"Cordova is a very small town," Bo Daniels said. "I grew up there. That's my home, and we're not like that. I don't know who these people think they are, but this is not the people that I grew up with."

http://www.wistv.com/story/30601092/muslim-leader-denounces-attack-against-orangeburg-county-man-and-his-home