One of the three people involved in the 2023 'hate crime hoax' has been sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison after being found guilty in May 2025, according to the United States Attorneys Office for the District o f Colorado.Ashley Blackcloud and co-defendant Derrick Bernard were convicted after a trial in which they planned to threaten or falsely convey information about a threat during Yemi Mobolade's mayoral campaign.The incident included placing a burning cross in front of one of Mobolade's campaign signs, which was vandalized with a racial slur in red spray paint.After staging the cross, Blackcloud, Bernard and Deanna West used social media to spread the threat in the weeks leading up to the Colorado Springs mayoral runoff election.Evidence presented at the trial showed days before the cross burning was showed, Bernard had threatened now Mayor Mobolade, and then immediately texted Blackcloud, "I got a plan."Blackcloud and Bernard worked together to send an email to Mobolade, media outlets and other organizations with a short video attached of the cross burning.The email falsely blamed Mayor Mobolade's political opponent for the crime.The conspiracy was initially uncovered after the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) gathered surveillance footage around the scene of the cross. The footage revealed three people staging the crime between 2:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m.After further investigation, CSPD and the FBI identified Bernard and Blackcloud, self-declared activists and social media personalities, as two of the three suspects.Derrick Bernard will be sentenced in March 2026. West, the only one to plead guilty, was sentenced to three years of probation and a $100 fine._______Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching. ...read more read less