The half-brother of the slain insurrectionist from San Diego was granted probation after a jury convicted him in November of a misdemeanor battery count and a hate crime allegation.
Roger Witthoeft, 34, was found guilty of the hate crime because he struck a Latino San Diego Gas & Electric worker in Point Loma and shouted racial slurs at the man. He was also convicted of violating the victim’s civil rights.
The worker was directing traffic around a work site at the intersection of Voltaire Street and Mendocino Boulevard when Witthoeft confronted him. He slapped the worker and told him to “talk in English, you [expletive] immigrant” and “go back to your country.”
At the time of the conviction, San Diego City Attorney Mara W. Elliott said in a statement:
“This jury has sent a clear message that violent, abusive, and racist conduct like this has no place in our community.
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.”
Also back in November, authorities said Witthoeft faced up to a year in jail, one year of probation and a $1,000 fine.
Witthoeft, in addition, later pleaded guilty to a disturbing-the-peace count for a second incident that occurred months later in Ocean Beach, in which, prosecutors said, he struck a man for blocking a sidewalk with his car.
In that incident, the Rag reported:
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.
We also reported:
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.
SanDiego7 reported that, “He was charged with felony vandalism but pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was placed on probation.”
Apparently, Witthoeft’s defense attorney, Varun Sabharwal, argued against custody by claiming no injuries were sustained and at the time, Witthoeft had been dealing with the death of his sister, a situation the attorney said was all the more traumatic because of the well-publicized nature of her death.
His sister – steeped in QAnon conspiracy theories and a Trumpist — was shot and killed by a police officer on Jan. 6, 2021, when she joined the traitorous insurrection and stormed inside the Capitol building. (It has and continues to be the OB Rag policy that we will not publish her name.)
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I guess the judge didn’t hear that “clear message that violent, abusive, and racist conduct like this has no place in our community.”
Far be it for me, a former defense attorney, to say someone didn’t get enough time, but …
There should be criminal charges for that mullet.
Frank, just who appointed this person or was this judge elected? If so, who were the financial backers of the campaign and what are their views on race and politics? Might have a somewhat clearer answer on why the judge ignored the DA…
This guy is beating people! And obviously this ‘judge’ must like the fact that this idiot shows a clear pattern of repeated violence over YEARS towards the same group of people.
And all he gets is a little swat on his diaper and let back out on the street?
Oh what, he ‘learned his lesson’ this time and he promises he’ll be good from now on? Yeah, right, like that’s gonna happen.
Chris: Is that what they call that hair style? I tried to look it up in my Random House College Dictionary but all it had was ‘mulatto’ which I’m sure this guy would get really upset being called. If he knew what it was.
Actually, I think he should shave off his hair for the cue-ball look since he acts like a racist skinhead and I think he should at least look the part. Sort of like racist cops who all seem to sport that look.
Maybe a cute little swastika or perhaps a confederate battle flag tattoo on his head or neck instead? Some KKK symbols would also be appropriate don’t you think?
He’s an embarrassment to all us longhairs just like the aloha shirts that have been hijacked by that racist, violent hate-group militia running around. I’ve had people ask me because I wear them and I answer no, I’m a surfer not an idiot. That usually elicits a smile…
sealintheSelkirks
Not sure who judge even was
I don’t know if it’s a “style” or not, but mullets do seem to be coming back.
As for the skinhead thing, be careful. Once upon a time, skinhead meant being associated with ska and reggae, not white nationalism.
Not when I was learning to play world beat and reggae on my congas! There were NO skinheads into reggae in the mid-70s! That was also when Marley’s albums were hot, Peter Tosh, Third World etc etc. Never saw a single skinhead on those albums ir at the Belly Up in Del Mar in those days.
I don’t think the blending happened until Punk came show up in, what, the early 90s? Personally was ever much on the Punk scene though I did like some of the music.
Ska, been a while since I pulled out some of those albums. English Beat, Madness, B-52s even kind of fits in there!
17’F on my front porch at the moment. More snow due in starting tomorrow night…but it was flaking a little at dark. Enjoy your warm OB weather!
sealintheSelkirks
Skinhead was originally an offshoot of Mod. By the late 60s as Mod was fading, everyone who was part of the subculture moved on to other scenes or just moved on with life. The tougher of the Mods were known as “hard mod” and they were what transitioned into skinhead. The look was appropriated from a mixture of styles from the West Indie rude boy look and other more British working class styles. The short cropped hair, sideburns, suspenders were taken from the rude boy look and the doc martins, bomber jackets from other working class styles. The original skinhead movement was multi racial and the music of choice was American RnB (carried over from Mod), and Jamaican ska. And ska of course morphed into rock steady which then morphed into Reggae. But somehow, British white nationalism came into the skinhead subculture that sadly that’s how most people not in the know came to only associated with British National Front movement. When punk came around, it helped launch a Mod revival (think bands like The Jam). And with the Mod revival there was a skinhead revival. Some of the racist variety and some not. I remember seeing both The Specials and Madness in LA around 79/80. Oh there were TONS of skinheads, but most here Hispanic and a fair # were black. Same when I went to see The Untouchables. I’ve very surpassed you didn’t see any in the time frame you’re describing. I remember seeing a few at the Reggae Sun Splash in the mid 90s at SDSU. Also remember that reggae was not originally associated with Rastafarianism.
Skinhead reggae collection:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IMEyolnh2o&list=PLOzdG_QQMqT9wRwL-ZyVIrQx-O1YC-Wf7
The only skinheads I associated the cue-ball look in the late 60s were the jarheads that showed up on the beaches to pick fights with surfers and hippies, and the cops who were doing the same thing.
The shaved head/pink-eared swabbie recruits weren’t really into the fighting thing as much, not like the violent Camp Pendleton teenagers. The regular sailors just wanted to hang on the beach and party instead. Much nicer group of guys for the most part.
I was turned on to Reggae by some Florida surfers that had surfed the Caribbean. Maybe around 1972? They moved for better surf and ended up in MB. They had some 45s they’d picked up, don’t remember the bands. I was playing blues/rock harmonica, had guitar lessons at MB school and played stand-up bass (orchestra & jazz) in the late 60s at PB Jr High. And when you blow harps, you tend to pick up hand percussion.
I didn’t get into congas until about 1976 when the trap drummer of the MB Boardwalk band ‘Fine Line’ said I needed other sounds since one can’t blow harp in every song or shake a tambourine! He taught me rhythms on a pair I brought back from a Baja surf trip. Had good rhythm in my hands from playing hand-percussion instruments, I could hear beats in my head, so he must have thought I was worth teaching hand drumming to. He was a rock drummer but had learned a lot of Latin beat & Santana-style from a 5 yr stint in Soledad Prison (for possession) from other musicians doing hard time. He played drums every day (all day if possible) for five years. At that point it was kind of a fusion that I was learning from him. I didn’t know the ‘differences’ between all of the styles-and still don’t, but it sure was fun beating my hands up learning. Then I got hold of a pair of used Gon Bops with an incredible sound…
I play on a Latin Percussion 6-drum set, two of which I’ve had since 1990 (LP Juniors) bought when I was playing with a band called ‘Pack o’ Smokes’ in Mormon Utah while at Utah State. You might get the joke… And, of course, still blowing harp.
Thanks for the link! I wouldn’t mind having that 50-song boxed set! I’m listening to the songs that are popping up as I write this, Harry J All Stars, King Stitt etc. Good stuff and never heard them. Since it hit a high of 13’F while sprinkling snow all day and expected to be sub-zero again tonight (-10F), hearing some great music is quite welcome because I sure the hell ain’t going outside!!
sealintheSelkirks
Well don’t confuse Marines with shaved noggins as being skinheads. Skinhead was an actual subculture that at the time didn’t really exist in the States (late 60s/early 70s). The music I posted was their music of choice. This was very early reggae which has just morphed out of the original ska period. The ska/mod revival of the lat 70s/early 80s brought the skinhead subculture back and by that time you would see some in America.
Off topic, I have to wonder if some of those Marines were the guys I saw @ Cheswick’s in the late 90s?
You’ll probably dig this: https://youtu.be/EdST9suL3gg
Yep, I did. Just listened to it. Good beats, and I sure do miss the concert scene. Live music has always been so much better that doing studio work…
My last band was a 7 piece and had a ‘bone’ player. Horns add so much!
Thanks for the music!
sealintheSelkirks
Here’s another. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k_jIle00Vc