North Carolina Man Sentenced for Civil Rights Violation

A Charlotte, North Carolina, man was sentenced today to 40 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for a federal civil rights violation after he threatened eight individuals with force because of their race, color, religion and national origin. Maurice Hopkins, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of interference with federally protected activities on Aug. 19, 2025.

According to filed court documents and the sentencing hearing, on June 8, 2024, Hopkins threatened eight individuals with a firearm inside a pizza restaurant in Charlotte. When Hopkins first encountered the victims, who were a group of friends getting pizza at the time, he asked if they were American. Hopkins then proceeded to harass the victims calling them terrorists, demanding they speak English, telling them to go back to their country, and making other statements because of the victims' race, color, religion, and national origin. Court records show that Hopkins made multiple threats, telling the victims, "If you say one more thing I'm going to punch you in the face," and threatened to "Shoot the place up," and "kill all of them." Hopkins then left the restaurant and returned minutes later, walking through the doorway with a loaded AR-15 style rifle. The victims immediately fled through the door in the rear of the restaurant.

With his guilty plea, Hopkins admitted that he threatened the eight individuals with force because of their race, color, religion and national origin and because they were enjoying the goods, services and facilities of the restaurant.

"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."

"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," said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson for the Western District of North Carolina. "Incidents like this should never happen, but when they do, my office will act swiftly to bring justice."

Hopkins remains in federal custody and will be transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

The FBI Charlotte Field Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nick J. Miller for the Western District of North Carolina and Trial Attorney Chloe Neely of the Civil Rights Division's Criminal Section prosecuted the case.