IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

California man pleads guilty to stalking after calling for antisemitic and anti-Asian violence

The 35-year-old man sent text messages to a female victim calling for “more Asian hate” and promoting shootings at synagogues, among other violent and racist messages.
A protester holds a sign that reads  "Stop Asian Hate."
A protest to demand an end to anti-Asian violence in 2021. Spencer Platt / Getty Images file

A California man pleaded guilty this week to a count of stalking after he sent a woman antisemitic and racist messages over 14 months. 

Andre Morrow Lackner, 35, sent the messages from June 2021 to October 2022 by text and various online channels, according to court documents and a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. The woman who was targeted was not identified.

The messages included violent antisemitic remarks calling for the extermination of Jews, celebrating synagogue shootings and denying the Holocaust. Lackner also called for “more Asian hate” and promoted violence toward Asian people. The messages repeatedly used racial slurs against Jews and Asians, court documents show. 

Lackner’s messages placed the victim “in reasonable fear of death and serious bodily injury to herself or one of her immediate family members,” the release said. 

“We must hold accountable those like this defendant who make vile, anti-Semitic, and racist threats that put victims in fear for their lives. I applaud law enforcement for acting decisively to intervene and protect the victim,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in the release. 

Lackner’s attorney declined a request for comment. 

A June 3 sentencing hearing has been set, and Lackner faces up to five years in federal prison. 

For more from NBC Asian America, sign up for our weekly newsletter.