Bay Area Farca, East Bay man who threatened Jews, will be released next year By Gabe Stutman Apr 29, 2022 A judge in Contra Costa County handed down a sentence of five years and eight months behind bars Friday to Ross Farca, who in 2019 posted threats to murder Jews and built a military-grade assault…
Bay Area Ross Farca’s lawyers ask for mental health treatment in lieu of jail time By Gabe Stutman Feb 8, 2022 With sentencing for their client on the horizon, lawyers for convicted felon Ross Farca are attempting a last-minute effort to divert the 26-year-old from prison into court-supervised mental health…
Bay Area Ross Farca, Bay Area man who threatened to kill Jews, found guilty on five counts By Gabe Stutman Dec 2, 2021 A Contra Costa County jury handed down five guilty verdicts this week in the case of Ross Farca, a 25-year-old who threatened to kill Jews and assembled an assault rifle that police say they found…
Bay Area Farca trial begins: diverging stories of East Bay man who posted about killing Jews By Gabe Stutman Nov 3, 2021 Lawyers delivered opening arguments Tuesday as the Ross Farca trial got underway, a day of proceedings punctuated by acts of defiance from Farca that drew sharp reprimands from Superior Court Judge…
Bay Area Man arrested in Campbell dreamed of ‘whites only’ community By Gabe Stutman Jul 23, 2021 A 32-year-old Los Gatos man who police say carried a cache of weapons and high-capacity magazines in his pickup truck, along with a journal bearing racist and antisemitic writings, expressed “an idea…
Bay Area East Bay judge sets trial date, tosses hate crime enhancements in Farca case By Gabe Stutman May 14, 2021 A judge on Friday upheld felony charges and set a trial date for an East Bay man accused of threatening a mass shooting targeting Jews on an online message board. But he discarded two hate crime…
California State Jewish lawmakers join show of support for hate crime bills By Gabriel Greschler Feb 22, 2021 Members of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus joined a coalition of state lawmakers on the Capitol steps in Sacramento on Monday afternoon to promote a slate of bills aimed at addressing hate…
Bay Area Trial postponed for Concord man accused of threatening to kill Jews By Gabe Stutman Dec 21, 2020 A criminal trial in Contra Costa County for Ross Farca has been postponed until February due to a rise in Covid-19 cases. It was scheduled to begin Monday. Farca, 24, faces five felonies after…
Bay Area Federal funds OK’d to protect Bay Area houses of worship By Gabriel Greschler Dec 9, 2020 UPDATED Dec. 10, 1 p.m. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has unanimously authorized $830,242 in federal spending for an educational program aimed at preventing violence against houses of…
U.S. FBI report: Hate crimes up in California and nation in 2019 By Maya Mirsky Nov 16, 2020 A threat to kill Jews posted online in Concord. Antisemitic and homophobic graffiti at a Burlingame high school. These hate crimes were reported in the Bay Area during 2019, and were among similar…
Bay Area Trial date set for East Bay man accused of plotting to kill Jews By Gabe Stutman Nov 13, 2020 More than a year and a half after Concord police arrested a young man accused of plotting a mass shooting targeting Jews, a trial date has finally been set for Ross Farca. The trial will begin…
Bay Area Judge rules that Nazi-obsessed East Bay man must face trial By Gabe Stutman Oct 23, 2020 A Contra Costa County judge ruled this week there is enough evidence to try Ross Farca, a 24-year-old Concord man who used the internet to share detailed fantasies about killing Jews, on six criminal…
Bay Area Prosecutors to present evidence in Farca case Aug. 11 By Gabe Stutman Jul 17, 2020 In a case that is being followed closely by Jewish groups and interfaith leaders, prosecutors in Contra Costa County will appear before a Superior Court judge next month and argue that there is…
Bay Area Ross Farca posts bail, is released from custody By Gabe Stutman Jun 10, 2020 This story will be updated. Ross Farca, the 24-year-old who professed admiration for Nazis online and who police say assembled an assault rifle in his Concord home, was released from jail on Tuesday.…
Bay Area Bail allowed for Concord man accused of anti-Semitic threats By Gabe Stutman Jun 3, 2020 UPDATED May 4, 11:48 a.m. A Superior Court judge on Wednesday reinstated $125,000 bail for Ross Farca, the 24-year-old facing felony charges in Contra Costa County after allegedly making anti-Semitic…
California State bill would provide training to better identify hate crimes By Elissa Einhorn Jun 2, 2020 David Chiu’s personal background made him an ideal partner for a hate crimes-related bill authored by fellow Assembly member Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), vice chair of the California Jewish Legislative…
Bay Area Farca sentenced for lying to U.S. Army, now facing local charges By Gabe Stutman May 28, 2020 With felony charges against Ross Farca still pending in Contra Costa County, a federal judge on Thursday sentenced the 24-year-old to time served — about six months in county jail — for the federal…
California California ranks third in number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2019 By Gabriel Greschler, Ben Sales May 12, 2020 Updated May 12, 3:20 p.m. Last year saw the most anti-Semitic incidents in the United States since at least 1979, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The 2,107 incidents recorded in 2019 reflect…
Bay Area Ross Farca pleads guilty to federal charge, sentencing hearing set By Gabe Stutman Apr 10, 2020 Ross Farca, an East Bay man accused of posting murderous threats against Jews online and owning an illegal assault rifle, pleaded guilty on Thursday to a felony count of lying to the U.S. government.…
Bay Area Judge denies Ross Farca’s motion for release in phone hearing By Gabe Stutman Apr 2, 2020 A federal judge on Thursday rejected Ross Farca’s request to be released from an East Bay jail because of the coronavirus pandemic. In arguments before Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim, conducted over the…
Bay Area Citing pandemic, Ross Farca files motion for release By Gabe Stutman Mar 31, 2020 Ross Farca, the 24-year-old East Bay man accused of threatening a mass shooting targeting Jews and assembling an illegal assault weapon, filed a motion on Monday to be released from custody, citing…
California Farca case begets state bill to fortify hate crimes law By Gabe Stutman Mar 12, 2020 When detective Greg Mahan learned that someone located in a bungalow near the North Concord BART station was posting online threats to murder Jews, he thought about what crime, exactly, was being…
Bay Area East Bay man who threatened to kill Jews offered plea deal on separate federal charge By Gabe Stutman Jan 24, 2020 Ross Farca was in court in Oakland on Friday for a status hearing on his federal felony charge. The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Hopkins, said her office presented a plea deal to the…
Bay Area Our 10 most read stories of 2019 By David A.M. Wilensky Dec 30, 2019 It was quite a year for the Jews of the Bay Area. From TV shows to “Barbie Death Camp” to white supremacists to racial diversity in the Jewish community, here are the 10 stories our online readers…
Letters Back-and-forths continue as our readers debate J Street, settlements By J. Readers Dec 13, 2019 A better genealogy source Thank you for your recent article (“Who is a Jew? DNA home testing adds new wrinkle to age-old debate”) and the two related articles. They were informative and…