Anthony Lightfoot '92, who is accused of sending a hate letter to the treasurer of the College's black alumni association, confessed to the Hanover Police department that he wrote the letter, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Concord.
The criminal complaint, filed in Federal court on Thursday by FBI Special Agent James Haskell, said Lightfoot "stated that he had in fact written and mailed the letter."
Quoting unnamed sources, the Associated Press reported yesterday that Lightfoot is being held for psychiatric evaluation in the state mental hospital in Concord. The sources said he is being held to determine if he is competent to be charged.
Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone declined to disclose where Lightfoot is being detained and FBI officials were unavailable for comment yesterday.
The criminal complaint alleges Lightfoot threatened to lynch Morris Whitaker '74, the treasurer of Dartmouth's Black Alumni Association, and rape and murder Whitaker's wife. According to an article in the Valley News, the letter was one-page long and filled with racial slurs, obscenities and violent remarks.
The complaint says on Nov. 2, 1994, Lightfoot "did knowingly deposit in an authorized depository for mail matter to be sent and delivered by the U.S. Postal Service, a written communication which contained threats to injure the persons of two individuals."
The letter was deposited in a Hanover mailbox and received by Whitaker at his home in Charlotte, N.C., the complaint states.
The complaint does not specify when Lightfoot confessed he wrote the letter.
In an interview from her home in Lynwood, Wash. yesterday, Lightfoot's mother, Ann Lightfoot, said "I don't really know what's going on or why."
Lightfoot, who was taken into state custody on Friday, has not been formally charged with mailing the letter. Giaccone said a warrant has been issued for Lightfoot's arrest, but said he does not know when the arrest will take place.
"It could be as soon as today, it could be as soon as the next few weeks," he said on Monday.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton temporarily suspended Lightfoot on Friday. Lightfoot, a history and government double major, was scheduled to graduate in two months. Although he matriculated with the Class of 1992, he took two-and-a-half years off to serve in the Army.
Lightfoot faces both Federal and state charges. FBI Special Agent Peter Ginieres previously told the AP since the letter was sent through the mail, charges against Lightfoot would entail a Federal offense of issuing threatening communications.
In cases concerning the violation of Federal and state laws, Federal charges usually take precedence, Ginieres said.
Lightfoot "is in the custody and control of the state of New Hampshire and once released from their custody and control, he will be arrested by U.S. Marshals and made to answer for the allegations that we allege in the indictment against him," Ginieres told the Valley News.
Although Lightfoot described himself in a letter to The Dartmouth as African-American in March, his mother told the AP he is "a combination of white, black and Indian."
Lightfoot was part of a tense debate at a February community forum on the implications of an antihomosexual flier sent to the Dartmouth Area Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Organization.
DaGLO organized the panel discussion and forum to discuss an anonymous flier sent to the organization promoting a speech titled, "Let's talk about faggots." The flier stated the meeting would address topics such as "Is it OK to shoot gays?"
Following several speeches at the Feb. 27 meeting, Lightfoot --a columnist for the off-campus conservative weekly, The Dartmouth Review -- posed the first question and asked, "Why is it that you feel the need to broadcast [your homosexuality] to engender sympathy?"
On March 6, he wrote a letter to The Dartmouth about the antihomosexual flier.
"Granted there is no room at Dartmouth for sniveling cowards who write anonymous garbage, but neither is there for group thought," he wrote.
Hanover Police said they have not determined if there is a connection between the hate mail, the flier and two other Winter-term prejudicial incidents.
