Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Ad Meskens
Rhodes allegedly physically and verbally attacked the employee “for no apparent reason other than because of her religion,” said Queens DA Richard Brown.
By Forum Staff
A Massachusetts man who physically and verbally attacked an employee at the Delta Sky Lounge in JFK back in January has now been indicted for hate crime charges.
The defendant, identified as Robin A. Rhodes, 57, of Worcester Massachusetts was charged at his arraignment in a four-count indictment with third-degree assault as a hate crime, second degree unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime, third-degree menacing as a hate crime and second degree aggravated harassment. He was released on $50,000 bond/$30,000 cash bail and ordered to return to court on June 12, 2017
“The defendant is accused of physically and verbally attacking a woman for no apparent reason other than because of her religion. Crimes of hate will never be tolerated in Queens County and when they do, regrettably occur, those responsible will be brought to justice,” said District Attorney Brown.
The charges say that the female victim, a Delta contracted employee, was sitting in her office in the Delta Sky Lounge (Terminal 2, JFK Airport) at approximately 7:10 p.m. on January 25, 2017, when Rhodes, who had arrived from Aruba and was awaiting a connecting flight to Massachusetts, came up to the door and stated, “Are you [expletive deleted] sleeping? Are you praying? What are you doing?”
Rhodes punched the door, hitting the back of the victim’s chair. She then asked Rhodes what she did to him, he stated, “You did nothing but I am going to kick your [expletive deleted] ass. The he kicked her in the right leg.
In an effort to get away, the victim moved to a corner of the office but Rhodes again kicked the door, stepped in and blocked her from leaving the office.
A bystander came over to the office trying to calm Rhodes down, and when he[Rhodes] moved away from the door, the victim ran out of the office to the lounge’s front desk.
Rhodes followed her and got down on his knees and began to bow down in imitation of a Muslim praying and shouted, “[Expletive deleted] Islam, [Expletive deleted] ISIS, Trump is here now. He will get rid of all of you. You can ask Germany, Belgium and France about these kind of people. You will see what happens.”
According to the charges, the victim suffered substantial pain and redness in her right leg and was placed in fear of physical injury, annoyance and alarm as a result of Rhodes’ alleged actions. At the time of his arrest, Rhodes allegedly told police, in sum and substance, “I guess I am going to jail for disorderly conduct.”
Rhodes, who faces up to four years in prison if convicted
