Vangastel Gets Probation for Hate-Fueled Harassment

MEDFORD, Ore. – John Blayne Vangastel, 37, of Klamath Falls, will spend the next five years on probation after being sentenced Friday, October 14, 2016, for a disturbing campaign of harassment targeting his Vietnamese neighbors. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke handed down the sentence following Vangastel’s guilty plea to one count of using force or threat of force to intimidate and interfere with the housing rights of his neighbors based on their national origin. This wasn’t a simple neighbor dispute; it was a calculated effort to terrorize a family out of their home.

The harassment culminated on the evening of December 30, 2015, when Vangastel, who had lived next door to the victims for roughly three months, brazenly trespassed onto their property. He then physically blocked the family’s front gate, preventing them from parking after a long day at work. When confronted, Vangastel didn’t back down. He reportedly threatened to “push [him] off the property” and raised a clenched fist, menacingly gesturing towards a female member of the family. Court documents reveal he admitted to instigating a fight, threatening physical violence against the entire family, and spewing racially-charged abuse.

This wasn’t an isolated incident. The December confrontation was the boiling point of a sustained pattern of intimidation. The victims, who had peacefully resided at their home for twenty years without issue, were relentlessly targeted by Vangastel. The relentless harassment created a climate of fear so intense that the family ultimately felt they had no choice but to abandon their home, displaced by hate and intimidation.

“The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to protecting the civil rights and freedoms of all Oregonians,” stated Billy J. Williams, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. “Criminal threats of violence that target people and communities because of their national origin threaten the core values that define a fair and just society. We will continue to partner with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to aggressively and effectively prosecute hate crimes throughout the state.” This case sends a clear message: such behavior will not be tolerated.

Vanita Gupta, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, echoed those sentiments. “Everyone in this country has the right to peacefully occupy their homes without fear of violence or intimidation on account of their national origin,” Gupta said. “Harassing and threatening force against innocent individuals because of where they or their relatives were born is an affront to the fundamental values of this nation, and the Civil Rights Division will continue to prosecute individuals who commit violence motivated by such bias.”

The investigation was a collaborative effort, led by the Medford Resident Agency of the FBI’s Portland Division, with support from the Oregon State Police and the Klamath County District Attorney’s Office. The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney William E. Fitzgerald and Special Litigation Counsel Fara Gold of the Justice Department Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section. While probation is the sentence, the scars of this ordeal will likely linger for the victims, a stark reminder of the ugliness that can fester in even the quietest corners of America.