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After notorious alt-right troll and serial harasser Ethan Schmidt-Crockett pleaded guilty to a criminal trespass charge in Scottsdale on Oct. 26, he did what he does best — ignored the law.
He violated the plea terms, according to court records, and a warrant for his arrest was issued on Tuesday.
Scottsdale prosecutors slapped Schmidt-Crockett with two misdemeanor charges for disorderly conduct and trespassing in June 2023. The charges came several weeks after the alt-right troll caused a disturbance at the Congregation Beth Tefillah synagogue, although the disorderly conduct charge eventually was dropped.
Less than a year before, Schmidt-Crockett posted a video of himself saying, "We're gonna be going hunting for the Jews."
The terms of Schmidt-Crockett’s Oct. 26 plea deal were 11 months of unsupervised probation, the successful completion of an anger management class and payment of more than $600 in fines and court fees, according to court records. If the 26-year-old does not complete probation, he will be ordered to serve 30 days in jail.
As of Thursday, neither the Scottsdale Police Department nor the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office had arrested Schmidt-Crockett.
Ethan Schmidt-Crockett said he shouldn't face prosecution for his antics, which he has called "activism."
Screengrab from a 2022 Livestream
Will Schmidt-Crockett finally face jail time?
In early December, Schmidt-Crockett failed to pay the fines associated with his Oct. 26 plea deal, causing his case to be referred back to a Scottsdale prosecutor. On Dec. 20, the prosecutor filed a petition to revoke Schmidt-Crockett's probation.Schmidt-Crockett was then summoned by the court to appear for a probation violation hearing on Jan. 2. When the escape artist did a vanishing act and didn’t appear, a failure to comply with probation arrest warrant was issued, according to court records.
Schmidt-Crockett did not respond to a request for comment from Phoenix New Times. But he tweeted on Dec. 26 that he was "retired" and "will not be returning for the battle of 24."
Still, Schmidt-Crockett has a propensity for rearing his head despite impending legal trouble.
In 2021, Schmidt-Crockett videotaped himself entering a Mesa wig store sans mask during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The store said its clientele consists of immunocompromised cancer patients, which is why it instituted a mask mandate.
For that alt-right crusade, Schmidt-Crockett was sentenced in 2023 to three years of probation by Mesa Judge Raymond Schumacher. He will have to serve two months of jail time if he doesn’t finish his probation.
Schumacher did not respond to a Phoenix New Times inquiry about whether the Scottsdale guilty plea violates Schmidt-Crockett’s Mesa probation sentence.
However, Scottsdale court records show that Schmidt-Crockett and his attorney were advised by the court in October that his most recent guilty plea “may result in a violation of probation, parole or community supervision.”
"These are historical shoes," Ethan Schmidt-Crockett said of the shoes he wore to destroy a pride display at Target. "They need to be in a museum."
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office / Sneaker Shouts
The ESCape artist
Schmidt-Crockett has a well-documented history of engaging in alt-right antics in the Valley. Yet, he has continued to evade jail time, even after several guilty pleas.In June 2021, Schmidt-Crockett pleaded guilty to an extreme DUI charge, according to Chandler Municipal Court. A few months later, in November 2021, he was caught allegedly driving with a suspended driver's license around the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa in Phoenix. He was charged by a Phoenix court with driving without a license, but the charges were dropped 12 days later.
In August 2021, Schmidt-Crockett was confronted by police after he harassed customers at FnB in Scottsdale. The farm-to-table restaurant required patrons to provide proof of a coronavirus vaccination at the time. He pleaded guilty to a criminal trespass charge in December 2021 and was sentenced to 11 months of unsupervised probation and 15 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay fines.
Schmidt-Crockett kept up his delinquent actions in 2022 when Sunny’s Hair and Wigs served him with a restraining order after he harassed the store’s employees in January. He violated the restraining order by calling the store the very next day.
He was charged with one count of interfering with judicial proceedings, a Class 1 misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail or three years of probation, along with $2,500 in fines.
After failing to appear at a Mesa court during his Sunny’s Hair and Wigs trial, he was arrested. Schmidt-Crockett pleaded not guilty for his failure to appear and was released with the promise of attending the next trial date. He finally pleaded guilty to all of the charges in March 2023 but was not given jail time.
When he wasn’t violating his plea agreements, he found time to record a video of himself destroying pride displays at Target. The video resurfaced in May 2023 and made national headlines.
Schmidt-Crockett told InfoWars that his 43-second video was watched more than 200 million times on social media and resulted in him being banned from Target stores nationwide. He later sought to sell the shoes that he used to trample the
pride displays for $10,000.
"These are historical shoes," he said. "They need to be in a museum."
By July 2022, Schmidt-Crockett briefly redirected his hateful actions toward Jews by recording and posting a video of himself saying, “We already hunted the LGBT folks. We’re gonna be goin’ huntin’ for the Jews next.”
A year later, in April 2023, Schmidt-Crockett was back on his anti-LGBTQ+ kick. On April 18, he filmed a video mocking shoppers at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in the Valley, complaining about a pride section and contemplating kicking it down. He was escorted out by a manager and was not charged with a crime.
The next day, he was kicked out of Arizona Church of Scientology in Phoenix. Again, he filmed himself as he trespassed inside the church and called a receptionist and a groundskeeper “a bunch of weirdos.” He was not charged with a crime despite refusing to leave until police were called. According to church leaders, Schmidt-Crockett was kicked out of the church for similar antics in November 2021 and April 2022.
In May 2023, the Arizona Republic reported that U.S. Border Patrol agents were looking into reports that Schmidt-Crockett and a vigilante gang had detained migrants at gunpoint.
How Schmidt-Crockett has continued to slip through the cracks in the justice system is anyone’s guess.
