Jailed white supremacist faces charges in Virginia

ROANOKE, Va. -- A white supremacist leader charged with threatening a juror in Chicago was indicted Thursday in Virginia on charges of making threats against a syndicated newspaper columnist, the mayor of a New Jersey town and several others.

A U.S. District Court grand jury named William A. White, 31, of Roanoke, in a seven-count indictment alleging he made threats against five individuals and attempted to intimidate litigants in a federal housing discrimination lawsuit.

White was charged with five counts of making a threat to injure by e-mail, the Internet or telephone, one count of making a threat with the intent of extortion and one count of threatening to intimidate a witness in a court proceeding.

Acting U.S. Attorney Julia Dudley said the case against White, commander of the American National Socialist Workers Party, is not intended to be a referendum on freedom of speech.

"This case is about innocent people being threatened, intimidated and extorted by a man that in most cases, they don't know and have never met," Dudley said at a news conference. "William A. White, like every American, has a right to freedom of speech. But like every American, he does not have the right to threaten, to injure, intimidate and extort innocent people."

Dudley said the charges resulted from a yearlong investigation that was not connected to White's indictment in Illinois on charges of threatening a juror. The juror was on a panel that convicted another white supremacist of soliciting the murder of a federal judge.

A federal judge in Chicago ordered White held without bond after hearing of his anti-black computer postings, including one of President-elect Barack Obama's photograph and the words, "He should not be allowed to take office by any means necessary."

The incidents that led to Thursday's indictment in Roanoke occurred between late 2006 and mid-2008, Dudley said.

The indictment identifies the alleged victims by initials, but Miami Herald editors confirmed that the nationally syndicated columnist targeted was Leonard Pitts.

The indictment said White threatened the columnist in a late-night telephone call to his home and an e-mail about a column on the slaying of a white couple by an African-American gang in Knoxville, Tenn.

According to the indictment, when a Herald editor asked White to remove Pitts' home address and phone number from his Web site, White refused and allegedly said: "Frankly, if some loony took the info and killed him, I wouldn't shed a tear. That also goes for your whole news room."

The indictment said White mailed threatening letters bearing his group's letterhead and a Nazi swastika to black tenants involved in a discrimination case against their landlord in Virginia Beach.

The indictment contends White also threatened:

--The mayor of a New Jersey town that had offered a reward for information identifying people who made racist threats against its leader, identified as "CT".

--A University of Delaware professor and administrator who taught a seminar that White found offensive.

--A lawyer who advocates against illegal activities by white supremacists in Canada.

--A bank employee who was handling a dispute over White's accounts.

If convicted on all counts, White could face a total of 55 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.75 million.