Derrick Bernard, 36, of Colorado Springs was sentenced on April 1 to 46 months in federal prison after being convicted by a federal jury on charges related to a staged hate crime. Bernard will also serve three years of supervised release and pay a $200 special assessment.
The case centers around an incident that occurred on April 23, 2023, just over three weeks before the Colorado Springs mayoral runoff election. According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, Bernard conspired with co-defendant Ashley Blackcloud to burn a cross in front of a Black political candidate’s campaign sign that had been defaced with a racial slur. The pair then publicized the event as if it were an actual hate crime.
Evidence presented at trial showed that ten days before the cross burning, Bernard sent a message to the targeted candidate stating he was “mobilizing my squad in defense. Black ops style big brother,” followed by texting Blackcloud, “I got a plan.” After staging the burning, Bernard and Blackcloud sent an email containing video and photographic evidence of the act to the candidate, media outlets, and various organizations. The email falsely accused the candidate’s political opponent of committing the act. The two then continued spreading false information about what happened through social media platforms.
The conspiracy came to light when investigators from the Colorado Springs Police Department reviewed surveillance footage from around where the cross was burned. The footage revealed three individuals staging events between 2:30 and 3:30 in the morning. Further investigative work by local police and exhaustive efforts by agents from the FBI Denver Field Office led authorities to identify Bernard and Blackcloud—both self-described activists and social media personalities—as participants in orchestrating what prosecutors described as a hoax.
United States District Judge Regina M. Rodriguez presided over sentencing in this case (case number: 24-cr-00320-RMR). Assistant United States Attorneys Bryan Fields and Candyce Cline prosecuted.
The broader implications of this case highlight law enforcement’s ability to uncover coordinated attempts at misinformation related to sensitive issues such as hate crimes during critical moments like elections.
