Hagerstown man charged with hate-biased incident in telephone calls

A Hagerstown man has been arrested and charged in what Montgomery County Police said is a hate-based incident over a person’s race.

Police said Tuesday that they charged Jerome Want, 69, with telephone misuse and harassment of a person because of race after reports of threatening calls to the office of an affordable housing organization.

An unknown person called the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission in Kensington multiple times between January 12 and January 18 and made sexual remarks and used racial epithets in threatening calls, according to police. Officers identified the suspect as Want who has been released on bond pending his next court date.

Online court records did not indicate an attorney for Want.