Dallas man sentenced to 26 months in prison for hate crime threats against Sikh nonprofit

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(Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A Dallas County, Texas man was sentenced to 26 months in prison for a federal hate crime and for making violent interstate threats against various individuals based on their religion. 

Threats include the employees of a Sikh nonprofit organization located in New Jersey.

What we know:

Bhushan Athale, 49, of Dallas, Texas had previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Edward S. Kiel in Camden federal court to interfering with federally protected activities through the threatened use of a dangerous weapon and one count of transmitting an interstate threat to injure another person. 

2022 threat

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, on Sept. 17, 2022, Athale called the main number of an organization that advocates for the civil rights of Sikh individuals within the United States.

He left numerous messages over several hours, threatening to injure or kill these individuals with a razor and other very specific acts of violence.

2024 threat

On March 21, 2024, Athale again called the same Sikh organization and left two more voicemails.  In these voicemails, Athale again used violent, sexual imagery to express his hatred toward Sikhs as well as Muslims.

What they're saying:

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division released a statement regarding Athale's sentence:

"The Department of Justice has no tolerance for hate-fueled threats of violence in our country, and we appreciate the strong efforts of U.S. Attorney Alina Habba and her team in working with us to bring this perpetrator to justice."

What's next:

In addition to the prison term, Judge Kiel sentenced Athale to three years of supervised release and warned Athale not to contact any of the victims of his offenses.