Man gets jail for racist threats

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·3 min read

Dec. 20—A man who telephoned racist death threats to businesses in four states — including the former Denny's restaurant on Elm Street in Enfield — was sentenced Friday to two years in prison, despite his lawyer's pleas for a lesser sentence because he has intellectual disabilities and has suffered abuse.

SENTENCE

DEFENDANT: Joey David George, 37, of Lynnwood, Washington

GUILTY PLEAS: Making interstate threats, interfering with a federally protected activity

SENTENCE: Two years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release

Joey David George, 37, of the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood, Washington, had pleaded guilty to federal charges of making interstate threats and interfering with a federally protected activity.

The sentence, imposed by Senior Judge Ricardo S. Martinez in U.S. District Court in Seattle, includes three years of supervised release, (similar to probation), after George is released from prison.

Prosecutors emphasized in their sentencing memorandum that George's calls included threats to kill all Black people in a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York — including women, children, and babies. He made those threats just two months after a gunman had murdered 10 Black adults at another Buffalo Tops store.

"George did not make these calls because he was in the middle of some mental health crisis," prosecutors Thomas M. Woods and Rebecca S. Cohen wrote. They said George admitted that "he was motivated by hate. He wanted people to feel fear and terror because of the color of their skin."

George's threat to the Enfield Denny's came on Sept. 11, 2021, the same day he phoned a threat to a marijuana dispensary in Rockville, Maryland.

He asked the Denny's employee who answered the phone if there were any Black people in the restaurant. The employee replied that there probably were because the restaurant invites customers of all races. George responded that he would throw a bomb through the restaurant's window.

Assistant Federal Defender Mohammad Ali Hamoudi wrote in his sentencing memo that George has a "full scale IQ" of 72, described as in the "bordline" range.

George also "demonstrates numerous behaviors commonly associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder."

"Through no fault of his own, he was taken out of school and deprived of the protections provided to him under laws for persons with disabilities," the defense lawyer wrote. After discussing George's history of abuse, Hamoudi wrote that George has been "calling crisis lines and suicide hot lines for eight or nine years."

A probation officer wrote that "for years, Mr. George experienced his family mocking him and calling him derogatory names," according to the defense lawyer.

When he committed his crimes, George was undergoing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, Hamoudi added. "He was not only abused but taught racist ideology by those tasked with raising him and caring for him," the defense lawyer continued.

Hamoudi stressed that George, who has never had a driver's license, made no attempt to leave Lynnwood or get a gun to carry out his threats.

George told the probation officer that "it was 'overbearing and sickening to hear' what he did" and how much he frightened a community that had recently suffered a mass shooting, Hamoudi wrote, referring to Buffalo.

Federal sentencing guidelines recommended a sentence in the range of 21 to 27 months in prison. But the probation officer recommended 18 months, according to the defense lawyer, whose own recommendation was a year and a day in prison. The two-year sentence imposed by the judge was within the guideline range but three months less than the prosecutors had requested.

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