Racist online searches fuel NC man’s threats against Black church, feds say
A list of recent internet searches on a 63-year-old man’s phone led investigators to charge him with making a threatening phone call to a predominantly Black church in Virginia, according to court filings.
He pleaded guilty this week.
John Malcolm Bareswill of Catawba, North Carolina — about an hour north of Charlotte — copped to charges of using a telephone to threaten to burn down New Hope Baptist Church in Virginia on Wednesday, federal prosecutors said in a news release. He now faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Bareswill “made racially derogatory remarks, and threatened to set the church on fire,” the release states. “The threatening call was placed on June 7, 2020, several days after one of the church’s leaders took part in a public prayer vigil and peaceful demonstration for George Floyd.”
Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died May 25 after now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed a knee into his neck for about eight minutes, as three other officers didn’t intervene. All four police officers were fired and now face criminal charges.
His death sparked an avalanche of protests across the nation in the weeks that followed — including a prayer vigil held by Virginia Beach ministers at Mount Trashmore park on June 2.
The event was organized by the Virginia Beach Interdenominational Ministers Conference, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
James Allen, an associate minister at New Hope Baptist Church, is the group’s president and was in attendance, according to the newspaper.
Five days later, achurch employee was holding an adult Sunday School class when the telephone rang, prosecutors said in federal court filings. The employee then reportedly put the call on speaker phone, allowing another adult and several minor children in the room to hear.
“You (racial expletive) need to shut the f--- up,” the caller said, followed by threats of burning the church down, according to court filings.
Prosecutors said the church employee then sent an email to the pastor detailing the threats, who in-turn filed a report with the Virginia Beach Police Department.
Bareswill used *67 to block his caller ID but investigators were able to use service provider records to trace the call, according to court filings. Police and FBI agents then reportedly confronted him outside his business, a local package delivery service, in Virginia Beach.
He denied making the call and claimed to be “asleep during the time frame when the call was placed,” an FBI agent said in his affidavit supporting the criminal charges.
Bareswill then reportedly consented to letting investigators search his phone.
Some of his recent searches included “who said all whites are racist,” “Black Lives Matter protest held in Virginia,” and “who organized the protests from Mount Trashmore to town center,” according to court filings.
He also searched “why are (racial expletive) protesting and looting” as well as “KKK stickers,” prosecutors said.
Bareswill viewed articles about the vigil that named the church and pastor as well as looked up information on at least three predominantly Black churches in the area before making his phone call, court filings state.
“He had placed another call to at least one other African American church in the Eastern District of Virginia, but that call was not answered,” prosecutors said.
Bareswill was arrested June 12 and charged with one count of threatening to kill, injure or intimidate an individual or unlawfully damage or destroy a building by fire, according to court filings.
He’s being held at Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk, Virginia, jail records show, and is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 12.
