FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRT

FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2007 (202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

Philadelphia Woman Pleads Guilty to

Federal Hate Crime
WASHINGTON – A Philadelphia woman, Kia Reid, pleaded guilty today to
committing a federal hate crime by sending a note threatening violence to her Arab-
American supervisor at work, in an attempt to interfere with the supervisor’s
federally protected employment activity. The announcement was made jointly by
Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights
Division and U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan, for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 24, 2007.

The single-count information charges that during the early-morning hours of

Monday, Oct. 2, 2006, Reid left an anonymous threatening letter in her supervisor’s
office at the Sheraton Suites Hotel in Philadelphia. Reid had affixed words and
phrases which appeared to be cut from publications, including the phrases
“REMEMBER 9/11,” “you and your kids will pay,” “tie onto the fence,”
“strategically planned,” and “death.”

Under the Department’s initiative to combat “backlash” crimes following the

September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Division has investigated more than 750
backlash crimes involving violence and threats aimed at individuals perceived to be
Arab, Muslim, Sikh, or South Asian. This initiative has led to numerous
prosecutions.

“It is twisted to believe that threats or violence against innocent Arab or Muslim
individuals somehow avenge the terrorist attacks of 9/11,” said Wan J. Kim,
Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Our system of justice will
not permit threats against innocents. The Justice Department will remain committed
to vigorously prosecuting these crimes.”

Reid faces a maximum term of one year in prison, a one-year period of supervised
release, and a $100,000 fine.

Prosecuting the perpetrators of bias-motivated crimes is a top priority of the Justice

Department. Since 2001, the Civil Rights Division has charged 165 defendants in
105 cases of bias-motivated crimes.
The case was investigated by the Philadelphia Field Office of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Schwartz
and Jeffrey Whitt and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Eric L. Gibson.

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