FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Fort Lauderdale man was sentenced to prison Friday after previously pleading guilty to assault on a federal employee, which included a hate crime enhancement.
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47-year-old Kenneth Pinkney was ordered to serve three years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release for the attack.
According to court records, the victim was a Muslim woman employed by the U.S. Postal Service who wore a hijab, including when she delivered mail.
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The victim said Pinkney first saw her as she drove along her route on Oct. 9, 2023, just two days after Hamas’ attack on Israel, and looked at her in what she described as an “aggressive” manner as she passed him in her truck.
Investigators say two weeks later, on Oct. 24, the victim was stopped on her route and got out of her truck to deliver mail when Pinkney approached her on a bicycle and passed by the victim as he pointed at her, imitating a gun with his fingers.
According to the Department of Justice, Pinkney then turned his bike around and made the same gesture towards the victim even more aggressively before riding directly towards her and getting off the bike.
According to court records, Pinkney then walked up to the victim and told her to “go back to your country” multiple times while tapping the victim on the back of her head with two fingers.
The victim returned to the driver’s seat of the truck, at which point Pinkney spit on her before reaching into the truck and grabbing her by the ankle and leg in an unsuccessful attempt to pull her from it.
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Investigators say Pinkney eventually got into the victim’s truck with her and tried to aggressively remove her hijab, first by pulling it down on her face, then by trying to pull it up over her head, eventually succeeding in removing it and exposing the victim’s hair.
Pinkney and the victim went on to fight over the hijab in the truck until she got out of the truck again, with Pinkney following her.
According to court records, once they were both out of the truck, Pinkney continued to assault the victim verbally, saying, “You are a terrorist,” and “F— Islam.”
Pinkey eventually fled the scene and was arrested later.
Investigators say the victim suffered scratches on her face from the attack.
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“Targeting people based on their religion has no place in South Florida and America, " Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Field Office in Miami Jeffrey B. Veltri said in a statement announcing the sentence. “The defendant verbally and physically attacked the victim based on her religious beliefs as she was simply trying to fulfill her civic duty to the community.”
The FBI Miami Field Office, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, and the United States Postal Inspection Service investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gilfarb for the Southern District of Florida prosecuted the case.
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