An African American man pled guilty to posing as a white supremacist and 'mailing threatening communications' to other minority residents

An African American man pled guilty to posing as a white supremacist and "mailing threatening communications" to other minority residents in Knoxville, according to authorities on Thursday. Justin Lamar Coleman was charged with mailing six hostile letters describing violent and disturbing acts to local African Americans from last July through December.Under the guise of Jeff McCown, a Knox County auto shop owner whom he had an altercation with years earlier, Coleman targeted the daughter of Daryl Arnold, a senior pastor at Overcoming Believers Church. The letter included threats of rape and murder, as well as violence against her father. Authorities also found an unsent letter addressed to Pastor Arnold, according to U.S. District Court records.“I am a very racist white man and with Mr. Trump in the White House being the Prisdent (sic) white people going to take over the world,” Coleman wrote. He even sent a letter to McCown, threatening to murder him and burn down his house.FBI agent K.T. Harper identified Coleman as a suspect due to a report he filed against McCown with the Knox County Sheriff's Office in 2010. The two men reportedly got into an argument after Coleman drove onto the auto shop owner's property and allegedly damaged the grass.Coleman is under house arrest pending a hearing date for his plea. He's been required to receive mental health treatment by U.S. Judge Bruce Guyton.

An African American man pled guilty to posing as a white supremacist and "mailing threatening communications" to other minority residents in Knoxville, according to authorities on Thursday.

Justin Lamar Coleman was charged with mailing six hostile letters describing violent and disturbing acts to local African Americans from last July through December.


Under the guise of Jeff McCown, a Knox County auto shop owner whom he had an altercation with years earlier, Coleman targeted the daughter of Daryl Arnold, a senior pastor at Overcoming Believers Church. The letter included threats of rape and murder, as well as violence against her father.

Authorities also found an unsent letter addressed to Pastor Arnold, according to U.S. District Court records.

“I am a very racist white man and with Mr. Trump in the White House being the Prisdent (sic) white people going to take over the world,” Coleman wrote. He even sent a letter to McCown, threatening to murder him and burn down his house.

FBI agent K.T. Harper identified Coleman as a suspect due to a report he filed against McCown with the Knox County Sheriff's Office in 2010. The two men reportedly got into an argument after Coleman drove onto the auto shop owner's property and allegedly damaged the grass.



Coleman is under house arrest pending a hearing date for his plea. He's been required to receive mental health treatment by U.S. Judge Bruce Guyton.