Smooth Sanchez
A self-identified “incel” — or “involuntary celibate” — 19-year-old YouTuber known for attention-seeking stunts and “harassing women” has pleaded guilty to making a “hoax threat” to blow up a bomb at a New York City restaurant, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday. Malik Sanchez, a/k/a “Smooth Sanchez,” admitted to lodging the Feb. 13, 2021 threat. Specifically, he admitted to one count of conveying false and misleading information and hoaxes contrary to 18 U.S.C. § 1038; the charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
From a DOJ press release:
SANCHEZ self-identifies as an “Involuntary Celibate” or “Incel,” which refers to a group of individuals with an active online community, mostly men, who believe that society unjustly denies them sexual or romantic attention to which they are entitled. Through online activity and in some instances violence, Incels target those who they believe are unjustly denying them sexual or romantic attention, which in most cases are women.
SANCHEZ has posted multiple videos to social media accounts depicting SANCHEZ harassing, threatening, and in several instances harming individuals whom SANCHEZ encountered in Manhattan, while expressing support for Incel ideology, including for carrying out violence against women in the name of the group.
According to a charging document, Sanchez posted a YouTube video “that was filmed outside a restaurant located in the Flatiron neighborhood of Manhattan.” The video allegedly showed Sanchez approaching “an enclosed outdoor seating area located in front of the restaurant.” There, he said it was time to “enhance their meal.” He “then walk[ed] inside the enclosed outdoor seating area and st[ood] close to two women . . . who [we]re seated at one of the tables inside.” Then, he yelled:
Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Bomb detonation in two, in two minutes. I take you with me and I kill all you. I kill all you right now. And I kill all you for Allah. Fuck, fuck that shit. I’m gonna Allah. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna fucking do it for Allah. I’m gonna do it, for, Allah, Allah, Allahu Akbar, Come on. I do it, bomb now, bomb now.
The charging document continues on to describe what the video allegedly shows:
As SANCHEZ makes these statements threatening to detonate a bomb, Victim-2 and Victim-3 appear startled, gather their belongings, exit the enclosed outdoor seating area, and go into the restaurant. Approximately four other individuals seated within the enclosed outdoor seating area grab their belongings, exit the enclosed outdoor seating area, and run away.
SANCHEZ then walks away from the vicinity of the restaurant, and states, in substance and in part, “Yo, all of them scattered” and “Holy shit. Holy shit boys. That was fucking five stars. That was five stars. Holy shit, huh?”
At least one individual called 911 in connection with the bomb threat, and at least one NYPD officer responded to the scene. By that point, SANCHEZ had left the area.
In a separate video cited by the DOJ, Sanchez allegedly yelled, “Fuck you on behalf of the Incels” at two random women.
“Fuck you,” he continued. “I’m a virgin for life.”
The rant allegedly continued:
Fuck you, you bitch. It’s ‘cause of you, it’s ‘cause of you that I’m a virgin — I have Incel rage. You know what? Elliot Rodgers was good. Elliot Rodgers was a good guy. I swear to God. Elliot Rodgers was a good guy. I swear to God that he should have blown their brains out a long time ago. I swear to fucking God. They deserved to be run over and hit by a truck. They deserved to be slaughtered. Slaughtered and hit by a fuckin’ truck. Fuck these fuckin’ bitches, man. Fuck.
Sentencing in the bomb hoax case is scheduled on Feb. 8, 2022, at 3:00 p.m., the DOJ noted.
Read the charging document below:
[image via screenshot from Sanchez’s YouTube video]
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