Former Klan leader indicted in Ala. cross burning


November 29, 2013 at 5:00p.m.

Former Klan leader indicted in Ala. cross burning

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A onetime Ku Klux Klan leader is charged with burning a cross in a mostly black neighborhood in southeast Alabama.

The Justice Department says 28-year-old Steven Joshua Dinkle was indicted on charges of conspiring to violate housing rights; criminally interfering with housing rights; using a fire to commit a felony; and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors say Dinkle is the former exalted Cyclops of a KKK chapter in Ozark. He’s accused of burning a cross in a black neighborhood in Ozark in 2009 to intimidate residents. Dinkle’s Facebook page shows him displaying a Klan tattoo.

Dinkle was arrested Wednesday in Mississippi.

Dinkle’s mother, 45-year-old Pamela Morris, is also charged with committing perjury before a grand jury that investigated the case.

Court records don’t indicate whether Dinkle or Morris has a lawyer.