Texas Man Sentenced to 26 Months in Prison for Making Threats of Violence Against Employees of Sikh Nonprofit Organization

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, including the employees of a Sikh nonprofit organization located in New Jersey, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Alina Habba for the District of New Jersey announced today.

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.

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

Read more: Department of Justice