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Olde Tyme Religion

Men Charged with Hate Crimes for Disrupting USF Muslim Students'' Dawn Prayer / X

2025-11-23

[X] On November 18, about a dozen University of South Florida

…which first appeared in the Rantburg archives on 12/10/2001, thanks to tenured computer science professor Sami Al-Arian, one of the founding members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad; he’d also organized a PIJ cell in the area, and worked in support of its jihad against Israel. He was finally deported to Turkey in 2015…

Muslim Student Association

…one of the earliest tentacles of the Muslim Brotherhood in North America. It’s long been noticed that members have been connected to all sorts of nefarious activities over the decades — hopefully President Trump will finally be the one to declare MSA, CAIR, and the myriad other branches an international terrorist organization…

members gathered for Fajr prayer

…they do it every morning at sunrise, but perhaps it was expected to be a particularly nice day…

when the men interrupted with anti-Muslim taunts, stomping boots near prostrating students, and a sign mocking Islam's holiest site.

Two suspects, Richard Penkoski and Christopher Svochak, now face felony hate crime charges for disturbing the religious assembly, plus misdemeanors, with trespass orders issued. USF Police condemned the acts, boosted patrols at prayer sites, and students like Sajid Khan expressed feeling unsafe yet determined to continue.

Third man who disrupted Muslim prayer at USF identified: police
[WFLA] Authorities identified the third man involved in an incident at the University of South Florida after video captured three suspects yelling at Moslem students as they engaged in prayer.

The cellphone video, shared by members of the Moslem Students Association at USF showed the three men pointing at the students during an outdoor prayer at the Collins Boulevard Parking Facility.

In a parking lot? Sounds hard on the knees, not to mention definitely not likely to have been formally permitted. Surely they have a center on or near campus where they can pray together instead of cluttering up the landscape.

The students said the men made several Islamophobic comments to them, calling them "terrorists" and telling them to "go back to Mecca."

On Saturday, detectives with the University of South Florida Police Department (SFPD) said they identified the third man in the video as Ricardo Yepez, 28, a Tampa native who has no affiliation with USF.

SFPD filed charges against Yepez under Florida Statute 871.071 for disturbing schools and religious assemblies, which will be upgraded to a felony hate crime. They also filed charges for disrupting a school or lawful assembly and disorderly conduct.

In my day university police could only refer criminals to local or state prosecutors for disposition — there was no mechanism for legally binding prosecutions on campus.

The two other men involved in the incident were identified earlier this week, according to the University’s police department.

Police said in addition to Yepez, they also filed hate crime charges against Christopher Svochak, 40, and Richard Penskoski, 49.

Officials say both men have no known local addresses in the Tampa Bay area and, like Yepez, have no affiliation with USF.

The MSA group’s press release and videos of the event can be seen on Instagram here, dear Reader, so you can decide for yourself.

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