Speers man charged with ethnic intimidation following viral video
A man from Speers Borough who recorded himself saying racial slurs to a Black woman in a Rostraver Township Walmart now faces criminal charges.
State police announced in a press release Wednesday that 36-year-old Michael Todora faces misdemeanor charges of ethnic intimidation and harassment, and a summary citation of disorderly conduct.
Last month, a video of Todora went viral on social media in which he approached Augusta Goll in Walmart and used racist language towards her. Goll is an immigrant and the owner of Queen’s Market in Charleroi.
The video was the subject of the No Hate in Our State town hall hosted by Pennsylvania Human Relations Committee last week.
Goll has posted about the incident on her personal Facebook page, including that Todora apparently visited her business after the video went viral, presumably to apologize.
“I’m scared of him,” she wrote on Facebook.
In the video, Goll walks away from Todora, a former member of Speers Borough council, after he starts using racial slurs. He then approaches another Black shopper.
“Don’t talk to him,” Goll can be heard saying.
The charges are being filed through the office of Magisterial District Judge Wayne Vlasic in Westmoreland County, but the criminal complaint was not immediately available.