KKK Members Accused of Cross-Burning

Five KKK Members Indicted in Cross-Burning on Black Family's Front Yard in Louisiana

ABC News.com/November 16, 2002

Lafayette, La. -- A federal indictment has charged five alleged Ku Klux Klan members with burning a cross in a black family's front yard.

Robert Dartez of Longville, Berry Lynn Harris of Sulphur and David Fusilier, Christopher Aaron and Samuel James Trahan, all of the town of Iowa, were charged Friday with interfering with the family's housing rights, using fire to commit a felony and conspiracy.

The family was home when the cross was burned Sept. 1 in Longville, in southwestern Louisiana. The house was not damaged.

All five people indicted are members of the American Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan, authorities said.

If convicted on all three counts, each defendant could get up to 30 years in prison and be fined $750,000, though federal sentencing guidelines rarely prescribe the maximum for first-time offenders.