An Orange County couple captured in a viral video hurling racist threats at a Black solar utility salesman are now facing misdemeanor hate crime charges, just the latest in the pair’s ongoing legal troubles.
Assault charges were filed Oct. 24 against Cheryl Pyle, 55 and Steven Wiley, 51, three months after their July 29 encounter at their Hunters Creek home with salesman Antavis Johnson.
According to an Orange County Sheriff’s Office report, Johnson was harassed by the couple after they claimed he insulted them when they refused to buy anything from him. The video, taken by Johnson and posted to TikTok, garnered millions of views.
The coupled were accused of “evidencing prejudice,” which categorizes the first-degree misdemeanor assault counts as hate crimes. Pyle and Wiley are to be arraigned on Nov. 25.
They are currently in the Orange County Jail for unrelated, and more serious, charges of abusing an older woman.
The video of what took place appears to show the tail-end of the argument, with Wiley shouting at Johnson, “Take your Black ass out of here before you get (expletive) up.”
“Come back again, I’m gonna (expletive) hang your ass,” Wiley continued.
According to the incident report, Pyle claimed Johnson made threats to rape her while spewing racial slurs targeting white people. Johnson has not been charged with a crime.
The deputy who wrote the report noted, “Wiley became uncooperative and began making multiple racially-charged statements.” What Wiley said was not included in the report.
As they await arraignment, Pyle and Wiley are also co-defendants in a felony case, accused of abusing Pyle’s stepmother at the same home as was captured in the viral TikTok video.
That incident, where prosecutors allege they beat the victim and kept her from leaving by tying a rope between the doors to her bedroom and the garage, took place in September, two months after their confrontation with Johnson.
Jail records show Pyle and Wiley remain in jail on $15,000 and $2,500 bonds, respectively. Both have pleaded not guilty.
