Brown has a long history of violent crime, including 14 arrests along with convictions dating back more than a decade.

By Matthew Xiao, The Washington Free Beacon

The Department of Justice on Tuesday filed a federal charge against Decarlos Brown Jr. in the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte, N.C., light rail train, with Attorney General Pam Bondi vowing to “seek the maximum penalty” and declaring that Brown “will never again see the light of day as a free man.”

Federal prosecutors charged Brown with “one count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system,” according to the DOJ’s press release.

Bondi described Zarutska as “a young woman living the American dream” and said that “her horrific murder is a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people.”

“I have directed my attorneys to federally prosecute DeCarlos Brown Jr., a repeat violent offender with a history of violent crime, for murder,” Bondi went on.

“We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable act of violence—he will never again see the light of day as a free man.”

North Carolina authorities already charged Brown with first-degree murder on August 22 for allegedly killing Zarutska aboard a Charlotte light rail train that day.

Surveillance footage released to the public shows the moments before what police called the “seemingly unprovoked” attack.

Brown took out a knife and stabbed Zarutska, still dressed in her work uniform, three times, according to court documents reviewed by Fox News.

Zarutska fled Ukraine with her family in 2022 to escape the war and was working at a local pizzeria.

Brown has a long history of violent crime, with 14 arrests along with convictions dating back more than a decade, Fox News reported.

He was convicted of larceny and breaking and entering in 2013 and of robbery with a dangerous weapon in 2015, serving more than six years in prison before his release in 2020.

He remained on parole until 2021 but was no longer under state supervision by the time of Zarutska’s killing.

The FBI’s special agent in charge in Charlotte, James Barnacle Jr., said Tuesday that he hopes the federal charge will “help bring her family a measure of justice,” according to Fox.

“Iryna Zarutska had likely taken that train ride many times before,” Barnacle said. “She was probably tired after a day at work and just wanted to go home, but tragically she never made it.”

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Hobgood faces up to five years in prison, a fine up to $250,000 or both.

By JNS

Jeffrey Scott Hobgood, 64, of Troy, N.C., pleaded guilty on Wednesday to threatening a Jewish organization on Oct. 11. Media reports identified the target as the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte.

“I am going to take out every one of you,” Hobgood wrote in an email, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina. (It did not identify the Jewish organization.)

After law enforcement contacted Hobgood, he sent an email on Oct. 13 stating, “Guess what happens to traitors? . . . Public execution. . . . We are at war . . . . If you think you semite pieces of s[***] are going to win, then you are delusional,” per the U.S. attorney’s office.

Hobgood faces up to five years in prison, a fine up to $250,000 or both, it added. He filed a guilty plea last month and entered that plea in court on Wednesday. He will be sentenced in May.

Last month, Hobgood filed a guilty plea after federal prosecutors said he made anti-Semitic threats back in October.

“No one in America should be threatened based on their race, nationality, religion, gender or other protected characteristics,” U.S. Attorney Sandra Hairston stated in October. “Individuals who target other community members will be held accountable for their actions.”

“No one should be threatened with violence or acts of hate because of who they are or how they worship,” stated Robert DeWitt, special agent in charge of the FBI in North Carolina, in October. “The FBI partners with communities of faith across North Carolina. Crimes driven by hate have no place in our state.”

“The Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte continues to work with local elected officials and leaders to improve the security of Jews, to ensure that the voice of our Jewish community is heard and to serve as a resource to victims of antisemitism,” the Federation told WSOC-TV Channel 9 last month.

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