A 58-year-old Florida man could face hate crime charges after allegedly breaking into the home of an Iraqi family and telling deputies that he aimed to get rid of his neighbors.
Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said told the Tampa Bay Times that he wants David Allen Boileau to face hate crime charges after he repeatedly said “the U.S. needs to get rid of all of them,” meaning Middle Easterners.
Boileau reportedly said that if his attempts to get rid of the family were unsuccessful, then “[President] Trump will handle it,” according to his arrest report.
“We have to send a clear message out there, and that message is it doesn’t matter your race, color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office is going to uphold the laws and make sure everyone is safe,” Nocco said at a news conference Wednesday.
Nocco said the first incident between Boileau and the family took place Monday. The sheriff noted that the family Boileau is accused of harassing had lived in the residence for three years without incident. Boileau had recently moved into the neighborhood, according to authorities.
“He said he does not like them, he wished they weren’t in his community,” Nocco said. “Which is ironic because he’s the one who moved into our community.”
Police said Boileau laid nails and screws in the road in an attempt to puncture the tires of one of the relative’s vehicles on Monday, police said.
“The U.S. needs to rid the country of all of them,” Boileau told a deputy on Monday, according to a report. “We’ll get rid of them one way or another.”
On Tuesday, Boileau allegedly approached the family’s home, yelling through the windows and walking the house’s perimeter. An unidentified neighbor told the Tampa Bay Times that he saw Boileau exit through the home’s front door and started to record video, telling Boileau that he was alerting police.
Boileau was reportedly arrested and told the deputy that he had gone into the house through an unlocked door.
No one was home at the time, according to the report, but the homeowner reported a wallet full of credit cards was missing.
“David uttered several statements of his dislike for people of Middle Eastern descent prior to being read his Miranda Warning,” the deputy wrote in the arrest report.
Boileau faces charges of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. The case will also be handed over to the FBI to see if the charges fall under hate crime statutes.