A federal grand jury indicted Worden Evander Butler on charges of interfering with the housing rights of his Black neighbors and using fire to commit a federal felony, tied to an incident on Nov. 24, 2023, in Conway, South Carolina. According to Atlanta Black Star, Butler posted on Facebook shortly after Thanksgiving that he’d give “his racist neighbors … a good scare for the health. With a cross in the lawn.”
He then posted photos of the victims’ home, car and mailbox, put up a cross in his own backyard, and set it on fire. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted. Butler and his girlfriend, Alexis Hartnett, pleaded guilty last year to state charges of second-degree harassment over the same incident, according to WPDE.
Investigators said the victims had reported repeated harassment before the cross-burning, including an incident where Butler allegedly entered their property yelling racial slurs. He also posted the family’s address online alongside messages saying he was “summoning the devil’s army” and that he was “about to make them pay.”
The case has moved fast since the indictment
Butler was arrested in California, where prosecutors said the FBI had searched for him for months, and was extradited to South Carolina for arraignment. He pleaded not guilty on May 6, according to WMBF News. Days later, a federal judge ordered him held without bond pending trial. The court cited the strength of the evidence, his lack of stable housing or employment, a history of substance abuse, and the danger he was found to pose to the community. U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling said in a statement that Butler’s “actions threatened” the “fundamental right” of families to feel safe in their own homes.
Shawn and Monica Williams say they’re relieved federal prosecutors took up the case, but they want South Carolina to pass its own hate crime law. “We are very grateful for law enforcement to actually get us to this point,” Shawn Williams told WCNC, “because, again, the cross-burning itself is just still so surreal.” Monica Williams told WMBF after the indictment came down, “We’re still broken in a lot of ways, but we are just humbled, excited, we are moved.”
South Carolina remains one of two states without a hate crime law. Calls for such a law intensified after Dylann Roof’s 2015 killing of nine Black churchgoers in Charleston; the state House has passed a bill twice, but it has stalled in the Senate each time. Shawn Williams has argued that without a hate crime law, Butler and Hartnett’s state punishment amounted to little more than a fine and a brief jail stint. He’s said such a law would have allowed for real additional penalties.
A similar pattern followed a 2025 incident in Richland County, where a man was charged with a hate crime only under a local ordinance after firing a rifle at a Black jogger while yelling a racial slur. Local ordinances typically carry misdemeanor-level penalties, which is part of why advocates in that case also pushed for state-level legislation, the same gap Butler’s case has reopened.
Two federal statutes cover Butler’s charges. 42 U.S.C. § 3631 criminalizes using force or threats of force to injure or intimidate someone based on race in connection with housing, with penalties rising to 10 years when fire, a weapon or explosives are involved. Separately, 18 U.S.C. § 844(h) adds a mandatory, consecutive 10-year sentence for using fire to commit any federal felony.
Combined, the two charges could expose Butler to more than the 10 years cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office if he’s convicted on both counts.
Published: Sep 17, 2026 12:27 pm