Suspect is arrested during friends’ pleas

When police began looking for a Newport Beach woman accused of committing a hate crime with two men, the last place they thought they’d find her would be sitting in court.

But there she was, sitting in the audience and watching her two associates in Santa Ana court plead not guilty to beating up a Latino man based solely on his race, police said.

Authorities quickly recognized her and arrested her, Newport Beach Lt. Craig Fox said.

Veronica Weber, 49, along with two Tustin men, Jason Fenstermacher, 27, and Keith Hunter, 31, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to committing a hate crime and street terrorism, both charges enhanced for being alleged gang members, prosecutors said.

The three claim to be part of a white supremacist gang called Public Enemy Number 1, Deputy Dist. Atty. John Christl said.

The Public Enemy Number 1 gang started in Southern California in the 1980s and mostly commits drug-related crimes, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The men, both repeat felons, have swastika and gang-related tattoos, Christl said.

At about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, a Latino man in his 20s was driving eastbound on Bristol Street when Weber, Fenstermacher and Hunter pulled up next to him in a green 1990 Mazda Miata, Fox said.

The group yelled racial epithets, did the Nazi salute and challenged him to fight, prosecutors said.

The man drove away, but the group caught up again at a red light at Jamboree Road, Fox said.

There, prosecutors allege, Fenstermacher and Hunter jumped out of the Miata and ran over to the man and punched him through his open door window.

They then got back into the Miata and drove off while the man called police, officials said.

Police found the three in a parking lot off of Bison Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, and arrested Fenstermacher and Hunter, officials said. Weber was initially let go, but soon after detectives decided she was culpable in the attack and sought to arrest her, Fox said.

All three are due back in court Tuesday. The Orange County Human Relations Commission reported there were 12 hate crimes against Latinos in the county last year, an increase of four from the year before. According to the commission, there were 81 hate crimes in Orange County in 2007, but many may have gone unreported, officials said.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].