A New York Man Is Facing Hate Crime Charges For Posting That He’d Be “proud To Hang” State Senator Lea Webb From A Tree

James A. Crosby, 49, a Binghamton contractor who owns Crosby Home Improvements, was charged with making a terroristic threat as a hate crime, a class C felony, after New York State Police traced the threat to a comment he left on a WBNG 12 News Facebook post. Crosby, who is white, posted the comment on June 19, Juneteenth itself, under a story about a Cortland County celebration where Webb, who is Black, was a featured speaker. WBNG’s story used her image as the cover.

Broome County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Crosby around 4:40 p.m. on June 23. No bond is listed. He represents Tompkins, Broome, and part of Cortland counties in New York’s 52nd Senate District.

The investigation turned up more than the threat. Officers found Crosby in illegal possession of firearms he was barred from owning because of a prior felony, recovering a rifle, a large-capacity ammunition feeding device, and a firearm suppressor. That added four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, all class D felonies. He’s being held at Broome County Jail.

Crosby’s was the most incendiary of several racially charged comments left on the WBNG post, per the Ithaca Voice. The day before his arrest, he posted a Facebook apology claiming the comment “was not intended to be racial in any way,” saying it referenced criticism of Webb over her use of nonprofit legal aid in a foreclosure case on her Binghamton-area home. Webb had previously secured $30,000 in state funding for the same firm, a relationship state watchdogs said created an appearance of a conflict of interest. Webb told the Ithaca Voice she planned to pay the firm for its services.

After the comment surfaced, social media users called for a boycott of Crosby Home Improvements, and the Binghamton City Democratic Committee called for an investigation before the arrest. The business’s Facebook page is currently listed as unavailable.

Webb condemned the threat in a public statement on June 25. “Feedback and thoughts on policy are one thing, but to make a public call for lethal violence is absolutely unacceptable and dangerous,” she said. “We must recognize our shared humanity and reject violence in all forms.”

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