FBI joins hate crime case

A black mannequin found with a noose around its neck in a county landfill building has triggered a joint hate crime investigation between the FBI and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

"This is an important issue, and we're taking it very seriously," Sacramento FBI spokesman John Cauthen said Friday.

The potentially racially charged case, which since Wednesday had been handled by county officials as an internal personnel probe, on Friday became a law enforcement matter, said Sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran.

"I understand a black employee brought it to the county's attention," Curran said. "That person was offended, and we thought it was in everyone's best interest if we took over the case."

The mannequin was found in a machine shop at the county's Kiefer Boulevard landfill. The out-of-the-way building, where tractors that plow under garbage are repaired, is accessible only to employees, said site supervisor Chris Perini.

The county has released few details about the incident. Union officials and the head of the local NAACP said Friday they believed three employees and a supervisor, all of whom are white, work in the machine shop.

Still unclear is whether the mannequin was being used as an overt threat, said Betty Williams, president of the local NAACP chapter.

"It's deplorable, totally unacceptable," Williams said. "We're still meeting with county employees to learn more."

County spokesman Zeke Holst said contrary to earlier reports, there is no indication the mannequin was hanging in the machine shop. Union officials and Williams said they had heard different versions on the position of the mannequin, including that it was hanging.

"We believe a hate crime investigation is warranted," said Joan Bryant, representative for the International Union of Operating Engineers-Stationary Engineers Local 39.

Bryant said employees told union representatives the mannequin could have been in the shop building for as long as two weeks, and that photos were taken.

In a written news statement, Bryant urged union members to cooperate with the investigation, "to locate the hateful, morally bankrupt person(s) responsible."

An African American employee discovered the mannequin on Tuesday, and asked a supervisor to investigate, Williams said. That supervisor, who initially was out of town, visited the machine shop Wednesday and reported the incident to the county's human resources department.

Holst confirmed the complaint was lodged Wednesday. On Thursday, the county issued a statement to the press late in the day, saying there was an ongoing probe "into an alleged racially motivated incident at a county work site," but refused to provide other details, citing personnel confidentiality concerns.

County workers are being offered counseling because of the incident.

County and union officials said they knew of no previous racial incidents or tensions at the landfill. The landfill is the county's largest and has 47 employees, said Chris Andis, a county spokeswoman. Some workers are African American.

Curran said incidents are investigated as hate crimes if the victim or victims are targeted because of certain factors, including race, religion or gender.

The FBI's Cauthen said the agency has a specific directive that if a noose is involved in a crime, aggressive action must be taken. That instruction was issued after civil rights issues were raised about the recent case in Jena, La.

Thousands have protested in that town over what they consider overzealous prosecution of the "Jena 6" – African American juveniles initially charged with attempted murder after beating a white schoolmate. Problems erupted among students after an African American student asked if blacks could sit under a shade tree normally reserved for whites, and lynching nooses were later found in the tree.

"Since Jena, we've received guidance that we must coordinate our efforts through FBI headquarters, to ensure we're connecting all the dots, collecting all the information and aggressively identifying potential issues," Cauthen said.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Terri Hardy, (916) 321-1073. Staff writers Chelsea Phua and Ed Fletcher contributed to this report.