Two Columbia men charged with federal hate crimes, US Attorney says
Two Columbia men were charged with federal hate crimes following a crime spree where they targeted people they identified as Mexican or Hispanic, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Charles Antonio Clippard, 26, and Michael Joseph Knox, 28, were charged with three hate crime counts, one count of conspiracy, one count of carjacking and three firearms offenses, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Both Clippard and Knox are also facing dozens of state charges related to the crime spree, including multiple counts of armed robbery with a deadly weapon and kidnapping, Richland County jail and court records show. Clippard is currently being held in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, while Knox posted $150,000 bond in October 2023, according to the records.
On Monday, Clippard and Knox were indicted by a federal grand jury in Columbia for their roles in a string of bias-motivated armed robberies that happened between January and February of 2021, according to the release.
What happened
The armed crimes happened in public places, including gas stations and grocery stores, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The indictment said that Clippard and Knox committed three armed robberies as part of the conspiracy, including one carjacking, “because of the victims’ race and national origin and because those individuals were using places of public accommodation,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. When they were arrested, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said Clippard and Knox might be connected to 17 armed robberies that happened in Richland County, Columbia and Forest Acres.
At least 23 people in the Columbia area’s Hispanic communities were robbed at gunpoint during the crime spree, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said in 2021.
Lott described Clippard and Knox as “wolves,” adding “the sheep were our Hispanic community.”
Crime Spree
According to deputies, on Jan. 30, 2021, Knox was one of two men who put a gun to a man’s head as he got out of his car at his house on the 400 block of Percival Road, deputies said. They demanded money and the victim’s car keys.
On Feb. 6, 2021, deputies said Clippard and another man, armed with guns, wearing ski masks and all black clothes, kicked in the door of a home on the 8500 block of Old Percival Road. They demanded money and cell phones from people inside the home and threatened to kill them.
Clippard and Knox are also suspected in 11 other Richland County armed robberies that happened between Jan. 19 and Feb. 6, 2021, according to the sheriff’s department. In nearly all of the cases, cash and cellphones were stolen and the victims were Hispanic.
The robbers often held up people at the end of the week, when the victims had just been paid by their employers, Lott said.
Hispanic communities of Richland County, particularly in northeast Columbia, endured “three solid weeks of terror,” Lott said.
Criminal records
Clippard and Knox both have prior records and were out on bond for previous charges when the armed robberies occurred, according to Lott and court records.
Between 2017 and 2019, Clippard pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and battery, burglary, strong arm robbery, having a stolen vehicle and gun offenses, records show. He was out on bond from a 2020 arrest when he was charged with having tools used for stealing and two gun offenses, according to records.
Police previously charged Knox with burglary and, in 2018, resisting arrest and receiving stolen goods. He was out on bond on the latter charges and failed to appear in court, records show.
Consequences
If convicted on the federal charges, both Clippard and Knox face a minimum penalty of 21 years in prison for the firearms offenses, a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each hate crime count and a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison on the carjacking count, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Along with the sheriff’s department, the FBI Columbia Field Office is investigating the case as well as the Lexington Police Department and Columbia Police Department, according to the release.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Garner and Andrew Manns of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.
Lexington attorney Ola Johnson is listed as Knox’s lawyer, court records show. Clippard is being represented by attorney Zoe Bruck of the Richland County public defenders office, according to court records.
South Carolina is one of six states — along with Arkansas, Indiana, Georgia, Utah and Wyoming — that doesn’t have a hate crime law for crimes motivated by race, religion, or ethnicity, according to the Bureau of Justice.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREThis is a breaking news story
In a breaking news situation, facts can be unclear and the situation may still be developing. The State is trying to get important information to the public as quickly and accurately as possible. This story will be updated as more information becomes available, and some information in this story may change as the facts become clearer. Refresh this page later for more updated information.
This story was originally published November 28, 2023 at 12:58 PM.
