A South Carolina man has pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime involving antisemitic vandalism at a Jewish community complex in Charlotte, North Carolina. The US Justice Department said in a press release that Dalton Ray Mullis, 24, entered the plea on Tuesday after targeting several buildings at Shalom Park.
Mullis, who is from Indian Land, South Carolina, admitted placing threatening antisemitic flyers at multiple locations within the complex. Those locations included Charlotte Jewish Day School, the Holocaust Memorial and a building used by employees. The materials combined threatening messages with Nazi symbols and an image of a hangman's noose.
Among the images displayed on the flyers were a swastika and a skull symbol associated with the Nazi SS. Security footage from the complex recorded Mullis at an entrance to the Jewish day school. The cameras captured him spraying a substance that appeared to be adhesive before attaching an antisemitic flyer to the school's door.
Court documents also described antisemitic activity by Mullis online. Between January and April 2026, he posted antisemitic messages and images across several social media platforms. The accounts used to publish those materials belonged to him and were operated by him, according to the documents.
Russ Ferguson, the US attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, condemned the use of Nazi imagery and lynching symbols at the Jewish community center. He said displaying such symbols fosters fear and hatred, and emphasized the federal protections surrounding the right to practice a religion.
“In this country, everyone is entitled to practicing their faith without fear, intimidation, or harassment,” Ferguson said. He added that people who violate federal laws protecting that right would face consequences.
Reid Davis, the special agent in charge of FBI Charlotte, said the guilty plea acknowledged Mullis's role in distributing the threatening materials. Davis said those materials were intended to intimidate members of the Jewish community because of their religious beliefs.
The FBI's Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department conducted the investigation, assisted by other agencies. Mullis remains in federal custody following his guilty plea. A date for sentencing has not yet been set.
