Hate-Crime Suspect Is Freed, Rearrested

A white supremacist accused of trying to run over a group of Latinos with his car this week was released from jail on $2,000 bail Friday, but his freedom was short-lived, Los Angeles police said.

Moments after his release, Robert Renney, 26, of Pendleton, Ore., was rearrested on suspicion of violating his parole in another racially motivated hate crime, police said.

Sgt. Jim Darling said Renney’s new bail is $10,000. He was being held in the Devonshire Division jail.

In the first incident, police said they watched Renney post a sticker bearing a swastika and anti-black slogans on a bank in Studio City on July 18. He pleaded guilty to placing handbills on private property without the owner’s consent and was sentenced Aug. 18 to 45 days in jail and three years’ probation.

In the latest incident, Renney, Peter McGuark, 18, and a 17-year-old boy were arrested after officers saw their car swerve toward Latinos at several intersections in Sepulveda about 10 p.m. Wednesday, police said. The suspects also sprayed the Latinos with fire extinguishers and shouted white-power slogans, police said.

The men were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and held at the Devonshire jail. The 17-year-old was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a billy club, and turned over to juvenile authorities. McGuark was released Wednesday night on $2,000 bail, Darling said.

Police said the suspects, who wore black combat boots and had shaved heads, are believed to be members of the Skinhead youth movement. Factions of the movement adhere to neo-Nazi beliefs, police said. Police said the three were not members of the Reich Skins, a white supremacist group suspected in a series of hate crimes in the San Fernando Valley.