WASHINGTON— A former member of the Church of the National Knights, a Ku Klux Klan affiliate, plead guilty Tuesday to burning a cross in front of an interracial family’s home in Minor Hill, Tennessee, officials said.
Timothy Flanagan, 33, pleaded guilty in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee.
“There can be no tolerance for such acts of intimidation when innocent persons are targeted simply because of their race,” said U.S. Attorney David Rivera for the Middle District of Tennessee. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to protect the civil rights of all persons and bring to justice, anyone who would attempt to impede the constitutionally protected right to liberty of any person.”
Flanagan is facing up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in January, officials said.
On April 30, 2012, Flanagan conspired with others to threaten, intimidate and interfere with an interracial couple’s enjoyment of their housing rights, an indictment stated.
According to the evidence, Flanagan and two others – Timothy Stafford and Ivan “Rusty” London – concocted a plan to burn a cross in the yard of an interracial couple who had recently had a baby.
Stafford, constructed a wooden cross in a workshop behind his house.
Using Flanagan’s credit card, Stafford and London then purchased diesel-fuel with which to soak the cross. Flanagan and the other co-conspirators then drove the cross to the victim’s residence and upon arriving at the residence, Flanagan and London exited the truck. The cross was placed in the driveway leading up to the house and was ignited, according to officials.
The co-conspirators burned the cross with the purpose of intimidating the African-American male who resided at that residence.
Flanagan and his co-conspirators allegedly chose to burn the cross at the victims’ house because of their race, as well as the race of their infant child, authorities said.
London IV, 21, of Lexington, Kentucky, and Stafford, 41, of Minor Hill, Tennessee, previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the conspiracy, and are currently awaiting sentencing, officials said.
Officials said Stafford faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. London faces up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.