Charlotte, NC – A man from Charlotte was sentenced today to 40 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for threatening eight people at a pizza restaurant due to their race, color, religion, and national origin.
Maurice Hopkins, 32, entered a guilty plea on August 19, 2025, to a single count of interference with federally protected activities, which is a violation of federal civil rights.
As per court documents, on June 8, 2024, Hopkins approached a group of friends at a local pizza restaurant, inquiring if they were American before subjecting them to harassment with racial and xenophobic slurs. He allegedly called them terrorists, demanded they speak English, and told them to “go back to their country.” Hopkins also made threats of physical violence, saying, “If you say one more thing I’m going to punch you in the face,” and allegedly threatened to “shoot the place up” and “kill all of them.”
After a short departure from the restaurant, Hopkins came back with a loaded AR-15 style rifle, causing the victims to escape through a back exit.
In his plea, Hopkins acknowledged that his actions were driven by the victims’ race, color, religion, and national origin, and that he aimed to instill fear in them while they were partaking in the restaurant’s offerings.
“This defendant targeted people enjoying a simple night out and threatened them with violence because of their race and national origin,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This was an outrageous act motivated by nothing other than racial bigotry. Today’s sentence makes clear: if you threaten people with violence because of who they are—or where they come from—you will be met with the full force of federal law.”
U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson for the Western District of North Carolina added, “You ought to be able to get pizza with your friends without being harassed due to your race or national origin and certainly without being threatened with an AR-15. Incidents like this should never happen, but when they do, my office will act swiftly to bring justice.”
