Skinhead Sentenced to Life for Murder of Two Homeless Men in Tampa

TAMPA, FL—U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces that U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich today sentenced James Robertson (32, Tampa) to life in federal prison for the 1998 murders of two homeless men. Robertson was found guilty of two counts of murder in aid of racketeering by a jury on October 18, 2011.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Robertson was a member of “Tampa Blood and Honour,” a hate group whose members espoused the belief that white persons of Aryan descent were the superior race. Tampa Blood and Honour members considered the homeless to be an inferior class, regardless of race. “Bum rolling” was a term used by Tampa Blood and Honour members to describe the activity of targeting and committing acts of violence against homeless persons.

Specifically, in the early morning hours of September 13, 1998, Robertson and three other members (Kenneth Hoover, Charles Marovskis, and Cory Hulse) of Tampa Blood and Honour murdered two homeless men—Mr. Alfred Williams and Mr. Richard Arseneau. Mr. Williams was murdered in downtown Tampa, Florida, under the Crosstown Expressway, in the vicinity of Meridian Street. Robertson and the other Tampa Blood and Honour members severely beat Mr. Williams with, among other things, a tire-iron. Mr. Arseneau was also murdered in Tampa, near the intersection of Interstate 275 and Fletcher Avenue. The murder occurred in a wooded lot located east of 320 East Fletcher Avenue. Robertson, along with the same three Blood and Honour members, also beat Mr. Arseneau to death. As a result of the beating, Mr. Arseneau sustained massive head injuries, at least some of which were caused by a hatchet. According to the medical examiner, the cause of death for both victims was blunt force trauma to the hea

Co-defendants, Hoover, Marovskis and Hulse previously pleaded guilty to both counts of murder in aid of racketeering and are awaiting sentencing.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with the assistance of the Tampa Police Department, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laurel Moore Lee and First Assistant United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III.