A black media personality was convicted last week of faking a hate crime against Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade to gin up votes for him, with the ringleader Derrick Bernard testifying that Mobolade was in on the hoax, and the FBI testifying that the mayor misled agents about his contact with Bernard.
Mobolade, who is Nigerian, won the election as a left-leaning independent in the traditional Republican stronghold in 2023 after the n-word was scrawled on one of his campaign signs and a cross set ablaze in front of it. Video of the scene was sent to the media, resulting in a swell of sympathy.
At the five-day trial in federal court for Bernard and his wife, Ashley Blackcloud, that concluded May 23, FBI agent Ethan Doherty testified that the mayor falsely denied contact with Bernard, despite records showing the pair was in contact before, the day of the hate crime, and afterward. Doherty testified that when the FBI interviewed the mayor, Mobolade said he was “120% sure” he did not have a phone call with Bernard three days after the incident, and that Mobolade seemed “nervous,” according to <a href="https://www.koaa.com/news/news5-investigates/fbi-agent-defendant-testify-in-election-hate-crime-hoax-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KOAA</a>. Doherty also revealed that Mobolade began using a <a href="https://gazette.com/news/courts/bernard-blames-colorado-springs-mayor-other-politicians-in-hate-crime-hoax-trial/article_2f4a6ffe-07be-4d4b-ae28-afbaf5267596.html">new cell phone</a> the day after the hoax.
The FBI’s courtroom testimony <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mayor-lied-in-hate-crime-hoax-probe-but-doj-refused-to-charge-him-fbi-official-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">corroborated</a> Daily Wire reporting from November 2024, which Mobolade denied at the time. Mobolade <a href="https://gazette.com/government/mobolade-statement-hate-crime-investigation/article_52f0bf8e-acdf-11ef-8efc-1b6a6e58dabc.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the local paper that “politically motivated websites will weigh in with no regard for accuracy or truth,” and his deputy chief of staff told the city council the article was “unfounded.” He produced a video in response, saying “I did not lie to the FBI,” and claiming he had paperwork from the Department of Justice showing he was a victim.
But a Justice Department document produced at trial said that Mobolade was at one point under investigation, that the investigation was closed but could be reopened, and that its closure should not be considered an exoneration.
The hoax began after an April 12, 2023 election in which neither Mobolade nor Wayne Williams, a white Republican, received a majority, triggering a runoff. According to court papers, the next day Bernard texted Mobolade: “Theirs [sic] a plot amidst. I’m mobilizing my squadron in defense and for the final push. Black ops style big brother. The klan cannot be allowed to run this city again.”
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mayor-lied-in-hate-crime-hoax-probe-but-doj-refused-to-charge-him-fbi-official-says">Mayor Lied In Hate Crime Hoax Probe But DOJ Refused To Charge Him, FBI Official Says</a>
On April 23, Bernard, Blackcloud, and a third conspirator named Deanna West, who previously pleaded guilty, worked together to scrawl the n-word on a campaign sign at 3:00 a.m., erect a cross with twine on it, and set the twine on fire. They photographed the display and sent it to the media, suggesting that white Republican supporters of Williams were to blame.
That night, Bernard texted Mobolade, “I guarantee the finish,” referring to a request from Mobolade to help him get across the finish line. Three days later, the pair spoke on the phone for five minutes. After Mobolade won the May runoff, Bernard texted him: “We got you through it all brother&#8230; Another time though, we’ll handle business.”
Bernard, who is now serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for an unrelated killing, testified that Mobolade, along with state Rep. Regina English (D-El Paso), helped plan the hoax, according to <a href="https://krdo.com/news/2025/05/23/couple-found-guilty-of-threatening-yemi-mobolade-with-hate-crime-hoax-during-2023-mayoral-race/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KRDO</a>. He said Mobolade was to have steered city money to Bernard’s radio station in return. Blackcloud did not testify, but told the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cross-burning-hoax-colorado-springs-black-mayor-1900f7765e9fe5693d5df2a5ea50ffee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a> that the mayor was in on it from the beginning.
<blockquote>
<h1>“Theirs [sic] a plot amidst. I’m mobilizing my squadron in defense and for the final push. Black ops style big brother. The klan cannot be allowed to run this city again.”</h1>
</blockquote>
There was evidence that the mayor did not seem to want a thorough investigation into the incident. He waited until the Monday after the news broke to contact the local police chief, whom he told “I don’t want to make a big deal about this,” according to <a href="https://www.koaa.com/news/news5-investigates/mayor-mobolade-testimony-continues-in-hate-crime-hoax-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testimony</a>. After the FBI identified Bernard as a suspect, Mobolade did not tell investigators that he had been in contact with him, testifying at trial that he was waiting for the FBI to <a href="https://krdo.com/news/2025/05/20/mayor-yemi-mobolade-and-wife-take-the-stand-in-colorado-springs-hate-crime-hoax-case/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">take the lead</a> by asking questions, according to KRDO.
That seemed to contradict the fact that when the FBI did ask him, he denied the contact. At trial, Mobolade said he didn’t recall denying his phone call with Bernard to the FBI, until he was presented with a transcript of his FBI interview.
&#8220;At the time I was confident,&#8221; Mobolade testified, according to the <a href="https://gazette.com/news/courts/colorado-springs-mayor-grilled-on-day-2-of-hate-crime-hoax-trial/article_ce378cbc-adde-4547-a91a-0625bce9b6db.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Colorado Springs Gazette</a>.
The Gazette reported that “Mobolade appeared flustered as he fielded questions from the defense about the timeline of events and specific details about his communication with Bernard. He often was not able to provide an answer.” He could still not explain what the five-minute phone call was about.
Bernard testified that the five-minute call was about the “hoax,” and that Mobolade “promised to ‘squash’ the story when Bernard expressed concern over backlash,” the <a href="https://gazette.com/news/courts/bernard-blames-colorado-springs-mayor-other-politicians-in-hate-crime-hoax-trial/article_2f4a6ffe-07be-4d4b-ae28-afbaf5267596.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gazette</a> reported.
The day after the call, KRDO ran a story quoting the Mobolade campaign asking people not to give the incident “<a href="https://krdo.com/news/2023/04/24/colorado-springs-mayoral-candidates-sign-painted-with-a-racial-slur-in-front-of-burning-cross-springs-mayoral-candidates-sign-painted-with-a-racial-slur-in-front-of-burning-cross/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">any oxygen</a>.” At trial, Mobolade acknowledged that “he tried to keep the story under wraps at the time, saying he ‘didn&#8217;t want that to be the story of Colorado Springs,’” the Gazette reported.
Emails obtained by The Daily Wire show that, after he became mayor, Mobolade used city employees to deter the local media from picking up The Daily Wire’s report that Mobolade had given false information to the FBI.
When The Daily Wire notified spokeswoman Vanessa Zink about the allegation that Mobolade lied to the FBI, the mayor’s chief of staff, Jamie Fabos, intervened to encourage her to take an ad hominem approach, calling the Wire a “bizarre far right” outlet whose reporters “don’t actually qualify as journalists.”
When the Gazette asked for comment about The Daily Wire’s story, Zink wrote: “Use caution in perpetuating gossip and rumors from politically biased outlets.”
“I guess I had hoped that our community could rise above what appears to be political bait from a source that doesn’t even have the decency to blur out racial slurs on its graphics, but, sadly, it seems that is not possible,” she wrote.
When media outlets used a blurred version of the photo to obscure the n-word, the blurring also concealed the fact that the fire was clearly coming not from the wooden cross, but from a small amount of twine wrapped around it. That was strong evidence from the beginning that it was a hoax, since twine would only burn for a few seconds, meaning the people who took the photo and sent it to the media were likely the same people who set the fire, rather than passersby. At trial, security camera footage confirmed that the fire only burned for 20 seconds.
City Councilman Dave Donelson said Zink resigned her job shortly after the trial, though he doesn’t know the reason.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2t4GKsTFjQk?si=jjoJJKxqRx2xq51h" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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An FBI official told The Daily Wire in November 2024 that Mobolade repeatedly concealed his contacts with Bernard from the FBI, despite scrolling through his phone in the interview room. The official said the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden refused the bureau’s request to indict the mayor for false statements because “we can’t indict the first black mayor of Colorado Springs,” instead telling agents to interview him again so he could change his story.
When the Justice Department indicted the trio, it issued a press release that falsely said that one of Bernard’s incriminating messages — that he was “mobilizing my squad” for “black ops” — was sent to his co-defendants, when it was actually sent to Mobolade.
A Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for Colorado has still not been confirmed, and under Acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell, a career Justice Department lawyer, the federal government has portrayed Mobolade, not the Republican candidate Williams, as the victim. That&#8217;s despite the fact that the culprits, in their anonymous message to the media, explicitly used the burning cross to frame supporters of the white Republican and harm Williams’ candidacy, and Williams ultimately lost the race.
Prosecutors charged the trio using a legal theory that seemed to require making it seem like Mobolade had no knowledge of the stunt in order to secure convictions against Bernard and his accomplices for making “threats” to him.
The defendants said it was “political theater” designed to win an election, not a threat, since the black left-wing operatives obviously did not intend to actually harm the black left-wing candidate because of his race.
But the trio was charged with “Willfully making a threat to kill, injure or intimidate by fire” and “Maliciously conveying false information concerning a threat to kill, injure or intimidate by fire, knowing the information to be false.”
As a result, the <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cod.238660/gov.uscourts.cod.238660.178.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">judge’s instructions</a> said in order to secure a conviction, prosecutors “must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants willfully meant the cross burning not as political hyperbole or political theater but rather, for Candidate 1 to fear a real possibility that violence would follow.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Candyce Cline said in the prosecution’s opening argument that the burning cross was not “political theater,” but rather a “threat of violence,” according to the Gazette. “Lead U.S. Attorney Bryan Fields argued the incident was not a hoax to the Mobolade family, but rather their worst nightmare,” it <a href="https://gazette.com/news/courts/hate-crime-hoax-trial-jury-returns-guilty-verdict-on-all-counts-after-4-hour-deliberation/article_94cc53e8-55c4-4109-b9d5-904240bee57d.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Mobolade cried on the witness stand and, despite evidence that the Mobolade campaign suspected that a black person was behind the hoax at the time, claimed that the defaced sign left him living in fear.
His wife “Abbey Mobolade testified she bought a fire ladder and trauma kit in the weeks after the incident, adding that she doesn&#8217;t let her kids outside alone anymore,” the Gazette reported.
The convicts have not yet been sentenced, but West, who pleaded guilty, is expected to receive only probation.
Mobolade issued a statement after the convictions that cast the hoax as a reminder of the importance of anti-racism.
“This moment brings a sense of closure and relief, not only for our family, but for the Colorado Springs community as a whole. We deeply appreciate the work of the judicial system, federal prosecutors, law enforcement, and everyone who worked diligently to bring this case to justice. Moments like this remind us that hate has no home in our city. As we move forward, we do so with gratitude, healing, and a commitment to the values that make Colorado Springs a safe, just, and united community,” he said.
Councilman Donelson told The Daily Wire that the statement painting Mobolade as the victim was unseemly. He said now that the trial is over, Mobolade is out of excuses to stay mum. “For this councilman, something doesn’t add up. If I were the mayor, I’d want to clear this up,” he said.
He said new Justice Department leadership should examine whether the false-statements case into Mobolade was closed for political reasons, and whether it should be reopened. He questioned whether the DOJ’s strategy showed a bias towards protecting Mobelade. “The DOJ charges were that this was truly a threat to Mobelade. If he knew about it, then their case falls apart,” he said.
He said at a city council meeting: &#8220;I call for an investigation into these accusations and actions.  The citizens of Colorado Springs deserve answers about the mayor’s involvement.”
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/prosecutors-indict-trio-for-staging-hate-crime-to-elect-left-wing-colorado-mayor">Prosecutors Indict Trio For Staging Hate Crime To Elect Left-Wing Colorado Mayor</a>

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Colorado Springs’ First Black Mayor Implicated In Hate-Crime Hoax At Federal Trial

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Colorado Springs’ First Black Mayor Implicated In Hate-Crime Hoax At Federal Trial