Texas father confesses to terrible hate crime hoax

Weeks after claiming their home was vandalized with racist graffiti and their vehicles set ablaze in front of their home, Texas authorities say David Williams has admitted to vandalizing his own Fort Worth-area home.

On December 12, Williams, of Denton, TX, said he and his wife, Jenny, awoke to find their truck and motorcycle set on fire, with the words “Nigger Lover” painted across the family’s garage. Williams, his wife, and their four children are all white.

At the time, Williams told the Denton Record-Chronicle he suspected “punk kids” were behind the vandalism. Now, the paper reports, Williams has admitted that he was responsible for the whole thing.

“He [confessed] Tuesday morning, and that entire conversation, I just don’t even know how to wrap my head around it all,” Jenny Williams told the Record-Chronicle. “It was clear to me, at that point, that his head was definitely not in the right place.”

Denton Fire Department spokesperson David Hedges told the Register-Chronicle that Williams “will be charged at a minimum with arson” after he’s released from a mental health facility. He added that authorities are also exploring “possible other charges.”

According to the Houston Chronicle, Williams originally wrote about her husband’s confession in a since-deleted blog post published before Christmas weekend. She later posted an update on her Facebook page, where she described her family as being in a “state of shock and sadness.”

Speaking with the Register-Chronicle, Jenny Williams said her husband was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder in 2012.

“There are so many things that are up in the air and I just don’t know where to begin,” she said. “But I know I have four kids who need a parent, and I have to do what’s right.”

Beyond criminal charges, the Williams family is now faced with the difficult task of compensating the more than 100 donors who gave over $5,000 to a crowdfunding campaign on their behalf. On the campaign website, Ashlee Lynch—identified by the Houston Chronicle as David Williams’ sister—posted a short message after news of her sibling’s confession was made public:

If any of the doners [sic] would like the funds back please let me know. If you have already contacted me I have tour’s [sic] handled already. Thank y’all so much. Again I am sorry about the latest news and I am working on the returns. Thank you and God bless each and every one of y’all….

According to Jenny Williams’ Facebook update, donors have already started receiving their refunded contributions, minus the crowdfunding platform’s 8% processing fee.

As bizarre as Williams’ admission may seem, he is not alone when it comes to faked incidents of racially charged vandalism. Earlier this month, a New York state firefighter was charged with burning his own home, spray painting anti-police messages on the property, and then blaming the incident on members of the Black Lives Matter movement. And last year, another Fort Worth-area man was charged with making a false police report after claiming his truck had been vandalized with Black Lives Matter slogans.