Two Charged For Vandalizing Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Two people face federal accusations of crime for vandalization offices belonging to religious groups offering abortion alternatives to pregnant people in Florida, officials announced on Tuesday.
Caleb Freestone, 27, and Amber Smith-Stewart, 23, were charged by a large jury in Tampa on January 18 of a chief of conspiracy against rights and two leaders of violation of freedom of access to the entries of the clinic.
THE charge Against the pair was not sealed on Tuesday and alleged that they targeted three so -called pregnancy aid centers which offer abortion alternatives that include advice, pregnancy tests and ultrasounds.
On May 28, 2022, the pair and other anonymous co-conspirators would have traveled in one of the centers exploited by the Archdiocese of Miami in Hollywood, between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, where they paint by spraying the threat, “if the abortions are not sure while you are safe.”
At the time of this alleged attack, the Supreme Court had not yet Abortion rights canceled nationallyBut a The opinion project of judge Samuel Alito had disclosed This indicated that they were ready to do so.
“We believe that the intention of this vandalism was to frighten and intimidate ourselves,” said Rebecca Brady, archdiocesian director of the Respect Life Group, said At the time of vandalism, adding that the culprits had been captured on surveillance images, which were then shared with the police.
A photo of vandalism also shows the anarchist symbol and the words “Jane’s Revenge”, referring to a Militant pro-established group established After Alito opinion fled. A blush This claims to belong to the Jane’s Revenge Group celebrates attacks on what they call “false clinics”, including one in Hollywood.
Two days after the possible release of the decision of the court decision Roe c. Wade On June 24, the pair would have been among a group that painted another clinic in Winter Haven, east of Tampa. Vandalism included the words “we are everywhere”, “we come for you” and “your time has passed !!”
On July 3, they would have vandalized another installation in Hialeah in the Grand Miami region with the same threat they left at the Hollywood clinic.
“The conspiracy plan and goal were to attack boring health services facilities that provide abortion alternatives by threats of paint force by spraying or other intimidating messages on the property of installations, in others to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate the employees of these installations in their ability to provide reproductive health services,” wrote the prosecutors during the accusation act.
The Access to Access to the Access to the Clinic Act, or Face Act, is a 1994 law which makes it a federal crime to threaten or interfere with clinics that provide abortions or other genesic health services.
Planned Parenthood A warned of people looking for abortions That “crisis pregnancy centers” like these targeted in Florida “resemble real health centers, but they are led by anti-abortion activists who have a shaded and harmful program: scare, shame or put pressure on obtaining an abortion, and to tell lies about abortion, birth control and sexual health.”
If he is convicted, prosecutors say that Freestone and Smith-Stewart could go up to 12 years in prison and be fined up to $ 350,000.
“I applaud our police and justice system for having taken these cases of domestic terrorism very seriously against pro-life installations,” Miami Thomas Wenski’s archbishop told Buzzfeed News in a statement. “The crimes of hatred of this kind should not be tolerated.”
No lawyer information has been listed for the pair in federal courts. Smith-Stewart did not immediately respond to a request for comments sent to a number listed by them in the judicial archives.
