County Candidate Confesses To Writing Racist Letter

HERMISTON, Ore. (AP) – The East Oregonian newspaper reports that a recent candidate for Umatilla County commissioner, who claimed he received an anonymous racist letter last month, admitted to police he was the one who wrote it.

Jonathan Lopez, who is Latino, said he had found a letter addressed to him which contained racist and derogatory slurs in his mailbox on June 23.

He posted a photo of the typed letter to Facebook, which was shared hundreds of times within 24 hours.

However, when police followed-up with Lopez about the incident on July 3, authorities say Lopez confessed to writing the letter.