Woman pleads guilty in cross-burning hoax during Colorado Springs mayoral campaign

DENVER (AP) — A woman who was part of a group charged with setting a cross on fire in front of a defaced campaign sign for a candidate who became Colorado Springs’ first Black mayor pleaded guilty on Tuesday in what authorities say was a hoax.

Deanna West, one of three people indicted in the 2023 incident, pleaded guilty in Denver federal court to one count of being part of a conspiracy to set the fire and then spread false information about it in the run-up to the election of Mayor Yemi Mobolade.

In exchange, prosecutors said they would drop an additional charge related to setting the fire.

Prosecutors say that after staging the cross burning, a photo and video of it were sent to media and civic organizations making it seem like an attack on Mobolade.

According to the plea agreement, the conspiracy's goal was to interfere in the campaign of Mobolade's opponent and create the belief that Mobolade was being discouraged from running because of his race. West was dependent on one of the other three people charged, Derrick Bernard, for employment and housing and agreed to participate to curry favor with him, the document said.

Lawyers for Bernard and the third person charged, Ashley Blackcloud, said in court filings that the government's evidence shows they were trying to help Mobolade win by generating outrage. They argued that the actions were a kind of political theater, which they say is free speech protected by the First Amendment.

Both are asking for charges against their clients to be dropped because they say no one was threatened by the cross set on fire in the middle of the night, which no one other than the defendants apparently saw.

According to the indictment, Bernard communicated with Mobolade before the cross-burning on April 23, 2023, and after Mobolade won election in a May 6, 2023, runoff election.

About a week before the cross-burning, Bernard told the then-candidate in a Facebook message that he was, “mobilizing my squadron in defense and for the final push. Black ops style big brother. The klan cannot be allowed to run this city again.”

They spoke for about five minutes on the telephone three days after the incident.

Mobolade has denied having any knowledge, warning or involvement in the crime.

A city spokesperson, Vanessa Zink, on Tuesday referred a reporter to a video statement that Mobolade posted on social media in December, shortly after the three were indicted. In it, the mayor said he knew Bernard as a “local media personality."

Mobolade also showed a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice saying he had been identified as a victim or potential victim during the investigation into the cross burning. He said he willingly provided all communications sought by investigators.

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This story has been changed to correct the spelling of the mayor's last name in the last two paragraphs.