Two men in South Carolina have been indicted on federal hate crime charges in connection with robberies targeting Hispanic customers outside gas stations and a Mexican grocery store. A grand jury on Monday indicted 26-year-old Charles Antonio Clippard and 28-year-old Michael Joseph. The crimes happened in the capital city of Columbia in early 2021. Clippard and Knox are accused of forcibly taking cash, cellphones and a car after following shoppers home and holding them at gunpoint. South Carolina is one of two states in the country that do not have laws allowing harsher punishments for violent hate crimes. The other is Wyoming.
