Four charged under new hate crimes law with placing swastika banners over I-4 in Orlando
Four people were charged in the hanging of antisemitic hate banners along a bridge over Interstate 4 in Orlando in violation of a state law passed this year to combat such hate messages, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Ronald Murray, 41, and Amanda Rains, 36, both of Cypress, Texas, were arrested last week and turned themselves into the Orange County Jail, according to the FDLE. They join two others: Jason Brown, 48, of Cape Canaveral, arrested Sept. 13, and Anthony Altick, 36, of Monroe, Louisiana, who was arrested Sept. 18.
The four are accused of placing banners without permission on June 10 along a fence on the Daryl Carter Parkway Bridge in Orlando. The banners included swastika flags and racist messages directly over passing traffic on Interstate 4, according to the FDLE.
“We want to thank Gov. DeSantis for his support of law enforcement and for the signing of HB 269, giving us the tools to arrest this hate-filled radical,” said FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass. “This activity will not be tolerated in the greatest state in the country, Florida.”
HB 269, which had bipartisan support in the state legislature, prohibits a number of activities, including distribution on private property of "any material for the purpose of intimidating or threatening the owner, resident, or invitee."
It has also worried First Amendment supporters who are concerned it will affect free speech protections.
Speedway, neighborhoods targeted with propaganda
More than a dozen people linked with the Goyim Defense League, an anti-Jewish hate group, spread antisemitic propaganda in Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach in February, according to the Anti-Defamation League and reporting by The News-Journal.
Hate group members stood on the pedestrian bridge over International Speedway Boulevard one Saturday and held up antisemitic banners.
The group also attempted to digitally project hate speech onto the Daytona International Speedway the day before the 500, the ADL reported.
Earlier this year, antisemitic pamphlets were thrown in yards and driveways in parts of Ormond Beach.
The bill prohibits the distribution of onto private property any material that contains a "credible threat to the owner, resident, or invitee of such property." The law also prohibits individuals from displaying banners or projecting images onto buildings, structures, or properties without permission.
The four alleged offenders in Orlando were released from the Orange County jail after posting $500 bail each. A condition of their release was that they have no contact with co-defendants in the case.
ADL: 71% increase in extremist-related incidents in Florida
The arrests were reported during a year that has seen a number of instances of antisemitic and hate-messaging in Florida.
Extremist-related incidents increased by 71% in Florida between 2020 and 2021, according to a report released by the Anti-Defamation League in September 2022. There were 207 such incidents in the state in 2021 compared to 121 in 2020.
The surge was largely due to the increased distribution of white supremacist propaganda by a network of extremist groups, including neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Those groups include the Goyim Defense League and the National Socialist Movement, the ADL stated.
Hate banners posted over I-4
In the incident over I-4, investigators located a video titled “Order of the Black Sun 10 June 2023” and “Disney Shock & Awe.” It showed people walking along the bridge with flags and using zip ties to attach banners to the span.
Order of the Black Sun is a small network of neo-Nazis primarily based in Florida formed in early 2023 by long-time affiliates of Florida’s white supremacist network, according to the ADL. It distributes propaganda and holds demonstrations.
Brown and Altick attached a red and white striped swastika flag to the bridge, according to a charging affidavit. Altick attached a “white power worldwide” banner. Murray and Rain attached a banner that read “Destroy ALL pedophiles” with swastikas on it, the affidavit stated.
Besides the FDLE, the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Highway Patrol participated in the investigation.
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Dave Kerner called Florida a "law-and-order state."
“Today’s arrest demonstrates Florida’s commitment to protecting residents from attention-seeking extremists,” he said.
'Political witch hunt'
A defense attorney called the charges political. Murray and Rains were “targets of a political witch hunt,” the lawyer, Augustus Sol Invictus, who represents the two, told a Texas newspaper.
Invictus, whose name was Austin Gillespie before he changed it, is an Orlando attorney who once slaughtered a goat and drank its blood as part of a pagan ritual, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Invictus is an extreme right-winger who also made an unsuccessful run for a state senate seat in 2016, according to the SLC. Invictus has also been associated with neo-Nazis.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Antisemitic banners over I-4 in Orlando lead to 4 arrests
