Man charged with alleged hate crime including racist and homophobic slurs

PARK CITY, Utah – A Wyoming resident faces hate crime charges after allegedly bombarding a Summit County sheriff’s sergeant and a Vail Resorts labor dispute participant with phone calls containing racial, homophobic, and gender-based slurs, authorities reported Friday.

Calvin Spencer Rawe, 35, of Alpine, Wyoming, faces a class A misdemeanor charge after allegedly making repeated harassing phone calls between December 30, 2024, and January 5, 2025, according to court documents filed by the Summit County Attorney’s Office.

Court documents show he was previously a Michigan resident, but lived in Park City during the current accusations.

The case began when a witness involved in a labor dispute with Vail Resorts reported receiving a threatening call. According to the probable cause statement, the caller became enraged during the conversation, used vulgar language, and threatened to “cause harm to transgendered people and those involved with the strike.”

Summit County Sheriff’s Sergeant Nakaishi investigated the report and contacted Rawe by phone, instructing him not to call the witness again. Court documents allege that during this conversation, Rawe’s “words devolved into anti-police calumnies and a tirade of epithets” directed at the officer.

Despite being told to stop contacting the officer, Rawe allegedly called Sergeant Nakaishi four more times over the next week, leaving messages that contained racist comments and slurs targeting the officer’s Japanese heritage.

The information filing states that in one message, Rawe made inflammatory comments about Japanese internment camps and the atomic bombings during World War II.

The case has been filed in the Third District Court in Summit County before Judge Janet Elledge. Rawe was summoned to appear at 3rd District Court for his first hearing set for April 18.

Electronic communication harassment with a hate crime enhancement carries potentially more serious penalties than standard harassment charges under Utah law.