Man Harassed His Black Neighbors With Nooses, Police Say

GRAPEVINE, TX — A man arrested last December in Grapevine is facing a federal charge for allegedly making inappropriate and racially insensitive comments and gestures toward his African-American neighbors.

Glenn Halfin, 64, was arrested on Dec. 22, 2017, after a months-long investigation by Grapevine Police. The investigation, police say, uncovered several racially-charged incidents directed toward his neighbors between Oct. 4 and Dec. 19, 2017. He now faces a misdemeanor charge of Interference with Housing.

His neighbors at Colonial Village Apartments reported damage to their vehicles, a noose thrown onto their balcony, two instances of a doll found with nooses around their necks and one situation in which a hanging doll was found in the breezeway at the family's apartment.

Police said Detective Joseph Moeller began searching for a similar doll, and found the item at Walmart. Moeller reviewed purchase history and security footage at the store and identified Halfin as the buyer of the dolls.

Halfin was arrested on a warrant on Dec. 22, 2017, and charged with Hate Crime Enhancement.

The victim shared a photo of the hanging doll on his Facebook page in a now-deleted post retained by the Dallas Morning News.

"I just wanna show people that racism is very well ALIVE AND REAL," he wrote in the post. "Thank God I put a camera up outside my apt because when I saw this man hanging a doll off the rails I was so fill (sic) up with anger I was ready to kill this man."

Halfin was evicted from the apartment in January after the ownership company won a default judgment against him in a justice of the peace court, The News reported.

In 2017, 58.9 percent of hate crime victims were targeted because of the offenders’ race, ethnicity or ancestry bias, according to 2016 Hate Crime Statistics from the FBI. In that year, most hate crimes — 27.3 percent — happened in or near residences.

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