The City Attorney’s Office announced on April 26 that additional charges will be filed against Roger Stefan Witthoeft, Jr., who awaits trial in a racial hate crime case in which he battered an SDG&E worker.
Witthoeft, 33, will be arraigned in San Diego Superior Court on May 6 on new charges of battery and vandalism, involving an attack on another man on Jan. 13.
In the new case, Witthoeft confronted a man on Muir Avenue in Ocean Beach who was helping a disabled friend out of a car. Witthoeft was walking down the sidewalk when he apparently became angry that the vehicle was obstructing their path.
According to the evidence, Witthoeft blocked the victim as he tried to walk around the car. When the victim tried to push past Witthoeft, Witthoeft struck him, knocking him to the ground. He then stomped on the victim’s phone and broke it. Audio of the incident was captured on a neighbor’s security system.
The victim, in this case, contacted the City Attorney’s Office after reading news coverage of Witthoeft’s hate crime case in which he battered and verbally abused an SDG&E worker using racial epithets.
“Mr. Witthoeft’s disdain for those who are different from him because of their nationality or disability is reprehensible,” City Attorney Mara W. Elliott said. “Our community members, visitors, and those who work in our neighborhoods have the right to be free from acts of violence. This Office will fight hard to hold Mr. Witthoeft accountable.”
In the first case, Witthoeft was charged with battery with a hate crime allegation, stemming from his confrontation with an SDG&E worker in Point Loma Heights on Sept. 15, 2021. In that incident, Witthoeft was apparently enraged that his pickup truck’s path was halted at the intersection of Voltaire Street and Mendocino Boulevard where SDG&E workers were repairing a utility box.
The SDG&E worker’s job was to block the road and divert traffic. Witthoeft reportedly slapped the victim on the head, knocking off his hard hat, and told the victim (who is Latino) to “talk in English you f—ing immigrant” and “go back to your country.”
Witthoeft was arraigned in that case on March 1 on charges of committing battery, with a hate crime enhancement and violating the victim’s constitutional rights by the threat of force. The trial is scheduled for June. Witthoeft is not in custody at this time.
Witthoeft is the brother of Ashli Babbitt, the Ocean Beach woman killed by police as she tried to break into the Speaker’s Lobby through a door during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The 35-year-old Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was shot as she and other supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in an illegal attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
Anyone with information about either of these incidents or about any additional incidents, is encouraged to contact the City Attorney’s Office at 619-533-5661 or [email protected].
