WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A black man pretending to be a white supremacist on a Facebook account pleaded guilty to making a racial threat to a Louisiana college student, officials say.
The Justice Department said Dyron L. Hart, 20, of Poplarville, Miss., pleaded guilty in a U.S. district court to one count of communicating threats in interstate commerce, CNN reported Friday.
In his plea Wednesday, Hart admitted to creating the fictitious Facebook account in November, pretending to be a white supremacist angered by the election of Barack Obama as the nation's first African-American president, Justice Department officials said. He then sent a death threat via Facebook to a black student at Nicholls State University in Louisiana, saying he wanted to kill African-Americans because of Obama's election.
A court document said Hart told an FBI interviewer that he intended the threat to be a prank "to get a reaction," CNN reported. The document also said Hart admitted to creating the Facebook profile under the name "Colton Brodoux" and used a photo of a white man he found on a supremacist Web site.
"This is an extremely odd case, a very unusual case," said U.S. Attorney Jim Letten of the Eastern District of Louisiana. "The contents of the messages were extremely troubling and provocative and very threatening."
Hart faces up to five years in prison and could be fined $250,000 when he is sentenced Nov. 18.
