Authorities have charged a homeless man who made harassing calls to a Black woman employed at a Montana church, and he may spend up to two years in prison.
The 41-year-old transient admitted to making several calls between December 2020 and July 2022 that used abusive and racially charged language, berating members of the Billings church for employing a Black pastor and Black receptionist.
According to a news release from the District of Montana’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, Joshua Leon Hiestand pleaded guilty to the felonious harassment charge.
He currently faces a maximum of two years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and one year of supervised release.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that Hiestand went to the church on Nov. 12, 2020, seeking assistance. An African-American woman who worked for the church gave him a gift card.
Days after Hiestand received the help, he started calling the church and leaving multiple messages that said he would have given money to the church if there weren’t Black people working there. In one call, he said, “Nobody wants you here,” claiming his white friends are some of the potential donors the church is missing out on receiving because of the diversity of its staff.
Within a month, the church determined it was Hiestand making the calls, and by January 2021, the Black receptionist that originally helped him with the gift card called the Billings police and reported the harassment.
The FBI and Billings Police Department were contacted to conduct the investigation and approached Hiestand about his behavior. He admitted it was him and said he would stop, but he did not. He continued to call the church for the next 19 months, calling from outside of the state.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno B. Baucus, who is prosecuting the case, deemed the calls to be “threatening and racially hostile.”
Sentencing will be determined by U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters on Oct. 26. The judge will consider the state’s guidelines on matters like this when determining the appropriate penalty for the man.
