Edited from 7NewsSan Diego
A brother of the slain rioter at the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol has been convicted of a hate crime for hurling racial slurs and assaulting a Latino SDG&E worker in Point Loma.
Ocean Beach resident Roger Stefan Witthoeft Jr., 34, has been convicted of misdemeanor battery with a hate crime allegation and violating the victim’s civil rights in the Sept. 14, 2021, attack on the traffic controller.
During the assault, Witthoeft approached an SDG&E worker who was diverting traffic near the intersection of Mendocino Boulevard and Voltaire Street, according to the City Attorney’s office. After slapping the worker, Witthoeft told the victim to “talk in English you (expletive) immigrant” and to “go back to your country.”
Authorities said he faces up to a year in jail, one year of probation and a $1,000 fine in the hate crime attack of the SDG&E worker. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 13.
“This jury has sent a clear message that violent, abusive, and racist conduct like this has no place in our community,” San Diego City Attorney Mara W. Elliott said in a statement. “My Office will continue to prosecute and hold accountable people who commit hate crimes, and I urge victims and witnesses to report all such activity.”
Witthoeft has had at least two other run-ins with authorities, the City Attorney’s office said. In 2016, he was convicted of vandalizing a 71-year-old Latino man’s truck in Lakeside. After being asked by the victim to move his pickup truck, Witthoeft kicked the victim’s truck’s door and kicked a window out of its camper shell.
Sometime around January 2022 – about four months after attacking the SDG&E employee – Witthoeft faced new criminal charges after getting into an altercation with another man on Muir Avenue in Ocean Beach.
In that attack, Witthoeft allegedly knocked a man to the ground and stomped on his phone after becoming angry with the victim for blocking a sidewalk with his vehicle. At the time, the victim was helping a disabled friend out of the car, according to the City Attorney’s office.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
It has been and continues to be the policy of the OB Rag not to print the name of the slain QANON insurrectionist who lived in OB for a brief time.
Thank you for that Frank. She is a stain on our community’s history!
I would love to meet the parents…
GML, I had a moment of curiosity and looked up the person’s name on Wikipedia. The mother of this person has since become a QANON-MAGA asshat since the insurrection.
There really is a pattern…..
I’m assuming you’re being sarcastic GML.
Absolutely. Sometimes (many times) sarcasm can be lost in writing…
If I had PhD or something, I might be able to see a pattern here. Is this really what we are coming too?
wow, so offensive and disgraceful, wonder why this guy picked OB as a habitat? So hard to understand intolerance like this, and clearly this loser also has an anger mgmt problem that isn’t going to be corrected w/ a fine… :(
OB, despite being OB does have its right wingers. I’ve encountered a few over the years.
And the Rag has chronicled them as well. See this “Colorful History of the Rowdies, Radicals and Ruffians of Ocean Beach”
I ventured into PB years a few years ago and saw a short hispanic young guy get attacked by 3 absolute racist guys, the first guy threw a punch which the hispanic guy caught in the palm of his hand and bent the guy’s hand till he was on his knees, the other racist tried to punch him in the head, and the guy elbowed him in the nose and he fell to his knees, and the 3rd racist guy tried to kick him in the stomach, the hispanic guy grabbed his heel and lifted his foot till he fell over, I said guys maybe it’s better you all walk away, they did and i asked the hispanic guy’s girlfriend, who is he, how come both of you were so calm, after being attacked by three guys, she said I was not worried at all, he is a navy seal, luckiest 3 guy’s in the world, got to walk away from a fight with a navy seal, funny to me, the guy never said a word before, during or after the altercation, quite guy, I do remember her saying after the fact, let’s go home enrique, and they walked away, she was very calm too, I wonder why he never displayed any emotion, i wonder what would have happened if they tried to jump him again, it was an interesting encounter to watch, no one was hurt, maybe just a few ego’s.
This is what this kind of mentality does in all its forms and permutations (and there are a lot that intersect). And it continues until it is stopped, then it festers inside and gets passed down (taught) to their kids. None of this is new, folks, just a continuation of our species special kind of madness…
Political Violence is the Currency of Fascism
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/11/02/political-violence-is-the-currency-of-fascism/
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Thank you for avoiding speaking that unsavory QANON Fascist name in the RAG, Frank. Besides, hometown was Lakeside I believe, and there wasn’t anything non-republican about that place back in the mid-70s when I was dating someone who grew up there that I met while skating the Spring Valley skatepark. I visited her, once, and thought I had stepped through a black hole into Texas…all those Stetsons everywhere I looked. I do believe I still saw some Nixon/Agnew bumper stickers even!
Growing up on the beach definitely teaches you that all kinds have always gravitated towards the beach communities, eh? We saw every type as kids…whew!
Seems like this brother is getting worse with time. And with his mama’s full support. Big (?) sister was a violent nutcase from the get-go…probably best to not have high expectations about anger management for this guy I’m guessing. They like how they feel. Do Unto Others takes on a whole new meaning to these people…
sealintheSelkirks
I don’t get it. What makes these aholes tick?
When hate is perpetrated on others, a mandatory psychoanalysis should be ordered and performed at the expense of the perpetrator. Required therapy and sensitivity training should be ordered also at the expense of the perpetrator.
Hating/assault/verbal abuse is not a right, nor is it “freedom of speech”. It is not protected under the constitution.
If the victim chooses, they should be allowed to read the report so they may understand that he/she/they are not the problem… the perpetrator and their history is.