MN Ex-Con Faked ‘Hate Crime’ For Money

From Minnesota’s very disappointed Pioneer Press:

[Star Tribune caption:] De’Andre June has scraped, covered over and seeded the charred cross. He says he got sick of looking at it.

Police say cross burned into lawn was a hoax

Recently jailed man allegedly hoped to win sympathy, money

BY DAVE ORRICK AND ELIZABETH MOHR
09/28/2007

He thought about faking a heart attack. Or maybe urinating on himself to feign stroke.

But in the end, prosecutors alleged today, ex-con and wanted man De’Andre McCoy June figured the best way to win sympathy and maybe even bail money was to commit a hate crime.

Against himself.

Anoka city prosecutors today charged June, a 47-year-old black man, with burning the symbol of the cross in his own front lawn earlier this week. June called police Wednesday morning and reported someone – he had no idea who – had burned a 6-foot-by-10-foot cross in the grass.

The alleged ruse worked for awhile.

When the first police officers arrived at the rental house in the 3900 block of 10th Lane North in Anoka, a TV camera crew was already there.

All day long, June accommodated the media, angrily chastising unknown racists and vowing: “I’m not going anywhere, because if I leave, they won.”

The media played the story, neighbors offered help. The city’s Human Rights Commission even called state activists and scheduled an emergency meeting for Tuesday.

Then several Anoka County Jail inmates saw a TV news report during lunch. According to the charges filed today, they recognized June, an eight-time convict, and told guards and later investigators he had spoken of his plan in advance.

“The investigation took an unexpected turn,” Anoka Police Capt. Phil Johanson said.

June’s Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension rap sheet includes 32 aliases and convictions for crimes ranging from burglary to car theft. Last week, June was in the Anoka County Jail on traffic-related charges, scheduled to report to Hennepin County on theft charges and then to Wright County for a different matter, according to jail records, police statements and today’s charges.

According to three inmates, June was hard-up for bail and brainstormed aloud several hoaxes – including a cross burning – to gain sympathy and make money upon his release. Johanson said the inmates have cut no deals with authorities for coming forward.

Investigators do not believe he told any of the eight other family members who live with him.

June faces three misdemeanors: falsely reporting a crime, disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process. The last two charges stem not from the cross burning, but from what happened when officers went to arrest June on a separate warrant and question him about the cross Thursday. He denied any involvement.

According to the officers, June physically resisted and swore at the officers. Then he dropped to the floor and said he was having a heart attack, the complaint states.

“After about 10 seconds he appeared to be okay,” according to the complaint, which was filed in Anoka County District Court – an uncommon practice for misdemeanors.

“We chose a formal complaint because we wanted the public to know what we knew,” Johanson said. “This kind of thing has an effect on a community.”

Anoka Human Rights Commission Chairwoman Cynthia Blesi released a statement that read in part “We are very troubled by these turn of events. Any declaration of a hate crime certainly invokes strong reaction from the public. False accusations are a huge hindrance to legitimate claims of bias.”

Blesi and another human rights commission member met with June Thursday and had begun to plan a prayer vigil at his home. “He was good,” Blesi said of June. “He told us he was from Louisiana and this really hit home.” …

Here is an example of some of the earlier breathless coverage, from the local ABC affiliate KSTP-TV: 

Cross burned into Anoka yard

09/28/2007

Residents in Anoka are fuming after an African-American family found that a cross was burned into its yard early Wednesday morning.

“That means that white people hate us,” said homeowner Deandre June of the racially charged symbol. “There’s some coward people livin’ around here. They have some stuff that they want to say to us but are scared to come and say it.”

The incident happened on 10th Lane in the north metro suburb.

June’s nieces and nephews—all under the age of 12—were spending the night at the home and woke up to find the symbol Wednesday.

“I was scared, I was shaken,” said June’s sister-in-law Patricia Cail, who just moved here from California with her four kids. Cail said she grew up with racism, but said her kids shouldn’t have to feel unwelcome because of their race.

Several residents in the predominately white neighborhood are standing behind the family. They told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that they are going to help police find the culprits.

“It just breaks my heart,” said neighbor Mary Van Engen.

Anoka police are investigating the crime and have said that the person responsible will face felony charges.

This incident is not Anoka’s first brush with a racially charged crime. In 2003, a family in the same neighborhood awoke to find racial slurs painted on its garage door.

Some of the other reports:

‘BECAUSE IF I LEAVE, THEY WIN’

A black family in Anoka awoke Wednesday to find the shape of a cross seared into the lawn. It is being investigated as a hate crime.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) – 9/27/2007 – The marks were hard to make out in the pre-dawn light Wednesday, but as the sun came up, De’Andre June was finally able to see the shape burned into his grass overnight. “That looks like a cross,” he said to his sister-in-law, Patricia Cail. June called the police…

Image of cross burned into black family’s Anoka lawn

St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota) – 9/26/2007 – The image of the cross was burned into the front lawn of a black family’s home in Anoka overnight, and police said they’re treating it as a hate crime.

“Why would you make it that shape unless you were trying to convey something,” said Capt. Philip Johanson of…

Too bad this latest development will prevent this from growing beyond being only a local story. If it was the other way around it would garner wall-to-wall national coverage.

And if Mr. June lived in Jena, Louisiana he might have gotten away with it.

But the gentleman is a busy beaver:

June’s Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension rap sheet includes 32 aliases and convictions for crimes ranging from burglary to car theft.

Still, you have to wonder.

He has 32 aliases and yet he calls himself “De’Andre McCoy June”?

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