Federal prosecutors announced Thursday, May 7, the unsealing of an indictment charging Shorai Moore, 31, of The Bronx, with one count of committing a hate crime in connection with his assault of a gay man on April 1 in The Bronx. Moore was arrested May 7 and was presented the same day before U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman.

The announcement was made by Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, James C. Barnacle, Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, and NYC Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, who said the defendant, who is already serving a federal sentence at a residential reentry facility, violently attacked a gay man based on the victim’s sexual orientation.

“Bias-motivated crimes tear at the fabric of society, and the NYPD will never tolerate hate of any kind in our city,” she said. “I thank our NYPD investigators, our partners at the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District for their work in this case, for their efforts to bring this criminal to justice.”

For his part, Clayton said, “All New Yorkers deserve to live in their communities free from hate-fueled violence. Hate undermines all that we hold dear in New York, including providing opportunity to all. No one should be targeted because of their sexual orientation.” He added, “This Office, working with our state and federal law enforcement partners, will always protect New Yorkers from hateful, violent crimes.”

According to the allegations in the indictment and other public filings on April 1, Moore was serving a term of imprisonment for narcotics trafficking at a Federal Bureau of Prisons residential reentry center in The Bronx, and on that day, while standing outside a Bronx deli located on White Plains Road, he yelled anti-gay slurs and statements, including that gay people should “get off the block” before assaulting a gay victim with his fist, a recycling bin, and a plastic crate.

Moore is charged with one count of committing a hate crime, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. He is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law. 

The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and provided for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

Clayton praised what he described as the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and the NYPD. The prosecution of the case is being handled by the Office of the U.S. Attorney’s for the Southern District of New York’s civil rights and human trafficking unit within the criminal division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Jones and Madison Reddick Smyser are leading the prosecution.

“This alleged assault traumatized an innocent victim due to his sexual orientation,” said Barnacle, Jr. “The FBI’s Hate Crimes Task Force is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to protect our communities against violence driven by hate.”