Oak Harbor police arrested a man accused of pointing a rifle at two other men in a racially charged incident Saturday, according a police report.
Dana S. Hodil, 53, of Oak Harbor appeared in Island County Superior Court Monday afternoon.
The judge found that there was probable cause to hold him on suspicion of two counts of malicious harassment — a hate crime — and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree.
Hodil’s bail was set at $25,000.
Under the definition of malicious harassment, Hodil is accused of threatening the men because of his perception of their race.
The official police report indicates that the incident wasn’t the first time Hodil was accused of a racism-motivated crime.
Just before noon on Sunday, Oak Harbor police received a 911 report of a gun-related complaint at the Queen Anne Motel on Pioneer Way.
An employee of the motel reported that Hodil was “a drunk” who lived at the motel.
The motel employee reported that Hodil, a white man, had an altercation with two African-American men and then got his rifle out off his room.
The two victims and another witness reported to investigators that Hodil pointed the gun at the men, the police report states.
The two men reported that Hodil approached them, but they asked him to leave because he was being offensive. He called the men a racial epithet and retrieved the rifle, pointing it at them, the report states.
In an interview with police, Hodil admitted to calling the men a racist term and getting the rifle in order to scare them; he denied pointing the gun at them, the officer wrote in his report.
Officers seized a lever-action 30/30 rifle and two boxes of ammunition from his room.
Hodil was not supposed to possess a firearm under the terms of a domestic-violence, no-contact order, court documents show.
Hodil previously called the two men a racial slur; the motel owner had him sign a note agreeing not to be disrespectful of anyone, the police reported.
Hodil’s criminal history includes a 1993 arrest in Philadelphia for “ethnic intimidation” and simple assault.
In 2014, Hodil was arrested for allegedly assaulting an 87-year-old, blind, female roommate; he was arrested a week later for allegedly violating a no-contact order involving the same woman.
