Three week after federal officials took Anthony Lightfoot '92 into custody as a suspect in the case of a hate letter sent to the treasurer of the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association, Lightfoot still has not been arrested or formally charged with the offense.
A clerk in the U. S. District Court in Concord said last Thursday that no new actions have been taken in the case. And District Attorney Peter Papps said Monday, "I have nothing new to add."
Hanover Police announced on April 14 that Lightfoot was a suspect in the case, and said "there are charges pending against Mr. Lightfoot at both the federal and state levels."
Quoting unnamed sources, the Associated Press reported on April 19 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.
A complaint filed in federal court on April 13 by FBI Special Agent James Haskell said Lightfoot told the Hanover Police that he wrote the letter.
The criminal complaint alleges Lightfoot threatened to lynch Morris Whitaker '74, the treasurer of the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association, and rape and murder Whitaker's wife. According to the Valley News, the letter was one-page long and filled with racial slurs, obscenities and violent remarks.
The complaint states 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 complaint did not specify when Lightfoot confessed to writing the letter.
FBI Special Agent Peter Ginieres told the AP that since the letter was sent through the mail, charges against Lightfoot would entail a federal offense of "issuing threatening communications."
Dean of the College Lee Pelton temporarily suspended Lightfoot last month, based on the information of Lightfoot's alleged involvement in the hate crime.
Lightfoot, a history and government double major, was scheduled to graduate this June. Although he matriculated with the Class of 1992, he took two-and-a-half years off to serve in the army.
Lightfoot was a staff columnist for The Dartmouth Review, an off-campus conservative weekly, and lived in McLane residence hall.
Although he described himself in a letter to The Dartmouth in March as African-American, his mother told the AP he is "a combination of white, black and Indian."
Several freshmen who live on Lightfoot's floor told The Dartmouth last month that they think Lightfoot has a volatile personality.
One student said "basically, these turn of events were a surprise to no one on the first floor of McLane."
But Government Professor Mlada Bukovansky, who had Lightfoot as a student in one of her classes, also told The Dartmouth last month that Lightfoot was "a really excellent student."
