Member of United Aryan Brotherhood Pleads Guilty to Hate-Motivated Assault of Jewish Inmate in Texas

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department announced today that Timothy Lee York, a 35-year-old, self-proclaimed member of the United Aryan Brotherhood, pleaded guilty to violently assaulting a Jewish inmate at a federal correctional facility in Texas.

York, of Fountain Valley, Calif., pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez in federal court in Dallas.

York admitted in court that on Dec. 28, 2007, he attacked Stuart Rosoff, his Jewish cellmate, while Rosoff was sleeping. York admitted that he used a dangerous weapon, a ligature that he placed around Rosoff’s neck, to forcibly pull Rosoff to the floor, where he lost consciousness. Once Rosoff was on the floor, York repeatedly kicked Rosoff in the head and punched him in the head and body. York acknowledged that he attacked Rosoff because he was Jewish.

“The Department of Justice will not hesitate to prosecute those who assault others because of their race or religion,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division.

Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2012, before Judge Sam A. Lindsay. The case was investigated by the Dallas Division of the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jared Fishman and Ryan Murguía of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.