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Purveyor of racist hatred on Net in trouble for violating parole

Arthur J Pais in New York

It is not uncommon for Asian students on American campuses to face racial insults or read racist graffiti in the toilets -- and at times in the classroom boards. The racist students are hardly caught. Often the Asian students say the college and university authorities do not take racist campaigns seriously.

But when 59 Asian students -- including a substantial number of Indians -- got death threats via the Internet early this year, California authorities acted fast and got a conviction in May this year for 21-year-old Richard Machado, an immigrant from El Salvador.

He had sent messages to students at the University of California, Irvine, threatening to "find and kill every one of you personally". Some students believed Machado held a grudge against his Asian teaching assistants and resented the Asian students because they were doing very well in their studies.

He was convicted of interfering with federally protected activities, specifically the right of his victims to go to school. It was the first successful federal prosecution of a hate crime via the Internet, prosecutors said.

Recently Machado ran into trouble for violating his parole. His parole had upset many students because they feared he could start sending hate mail all over again. Last week, he was sentenced to serve four months in prison for failing the condition of his parole.

In May, US district judge Alicemarie Stotler had sentenced Machado to one year of probation for his hate crimes. He was also fined him $ 1,000. She also sentenced Machado to one year in prison, which he served during the trial.

But a prosecutor this week told Stotler that Machado missed at least two meetings with his probation officer. He had also failed to fill out mandatory reports on his living and employment status, Assistant US Attorney Michael Gennaco said.

Now, Machado must serve another eight months of supervised release after his release from prison, Gennaco said.

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