South Carolina Men Indicted on Federal Hate Crime Charges

Accused of Targeting Hispanic Shoppers in Series of Robberies

Charles Antonio Clippard, 26, and Michael Joseph Knox, 28, both of Columbia, South Carolina, have been indicted on federal hate crime charges in connection with a series of robberies targeting Hispanic customers outside gas stations and a Mexican grocery store.
The men are accused of forcibly taking cash, cellphones and, in one instance, a car after following shoppers to their homes and holding them at gunpoint in 2021.
The Columbia-area men intentionally picked victims they identified as Mexican or Hispanic, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
South Carolina is one of two states in the country without laws that allow harsher punishments for violent hate crimes.
Clippard and Knox were each indicted on three counts of hate crimes, three counts of firearms offenses, one count of carjacking and one count of conspiracy. The firearms offenses call for a minimum of 21 years in prison. Each hate crime charge carries up to 10 years in prison, and the carjacking charge up to 15 years.