Rips off jewellery, beats up…: California man held for attacking saree-clad women; charged with hate crimes

A California-based man, with criminal records, has been charged with hate crimes for allegedly attacking as many as 14 Hindu women of Indian descent since June this year.

Lathan Johnson, 37, a resident of California's East Palo Alto, has been arrested for targeting Indian women wearing traditional dress and jewellery. Apparently, during his two-month crime spree, he broke women's arms and beat their husbands for gold jewellery.

"Rips off their jewellery, drags them down the street breaks their writs, beats up their husband and terrorizing them is much worse than a property thief," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. Johnson remains in custody with no bail. He faces a maximum penalty of 63 years behind bars. His next court date is set for November 4.

DA Rosen said that there may be more victims which is why they were sharing Johnson's mugshot. They asked anyone with information to come forward.

In the last few weeks, many from the Indian communities spoke about the harassment they face in California on social media. Shankar Kenkre, one of the victims, posted about his mother being targeted in an unrelated non-violent attack for her gold necklace several weeks ago in Foster City.

He posted it on Nextdoor and was flooded with comments from other Indians saying it had happened to them or a loved one.

Samir Karla of the Hindu American Foundation pointed out the women were just reportedly wearing a sari and bindis, frequenting temples and Hindu sites.

Gold jewellery is ceremonial and for many, a sacred part of Hindu culture. With a number of Indian holidays and festivals coming soon, spreading awareness, according to Samir Kalra of the Hindu American Foundation, is crucial, ABC7's reporter, Dion Lim pointed out.

Applauding DA's actions, Kalra called for more counties to charge crimes targeting Asian Americans as hate crimes.

"We are facing an uptick in hate crimes and online Hindu phobia. Seeing that we're making progress in prosecuting to the fullest sends a strong message," he said, outside the courthouse.