LOS ANGELES, CA – A 43-year-old Lomita man has been ordered to stand trial on felony hate crime and criminal threat charges after prosecutors alleged he repeatedly called a Jewish community center in Redondo Beach and threatened to shoot the facility while hundreds of children were present.
Paul Dean Andrews pleaded not guilty to one felony count each of violating civil rights as a hate crime, making criminal threats to a school and attempted criminal threats. The case was filed Aug. 18, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Andrews was held to answer Sept. 1 following a preliminary hearing at the Torrance Courthouse. His arraignment on the information is scheduled for Sept. 16 in Department C. His bail remains set at $275,000.
If convicted as charged, Andrews faces up to nine years and four months in state prison, prosecutors said. The charges remain allegations, and Andrews is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court.
Prosecutors allege repeated calls to Redondo Beach center
According to prosecutors, Andrews first called the Jewish Community Center in Redondo Beach on Aug. 11 and allegedly made antisemitic statements directed at the Jewish community in the South Bay.
Two days later, prosecutors allege, Andrews called the center several more times. During one of those calls, he allegedly referred to the facility’s location and the presence of children before threatening to “shoot up the place.”
The allegations form the basis of the three felony charges now moving through the Torrance court system. The District Attorney’s Office said the newly filed case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Sergei Shubin of its Organized Crime Division, which includes the Hate Crimes Section.
The investigation was conducted by the Redondo Beach Police Department, according to prosecutors.
The case is significant not only because of the alleged threat itself, but also because prosecutors say it followed an earlier criminal case in which Andrews was given an opportunity to complete an anti-bias program.
Earlier gun case led to anti-bias program
Andrews was previously charged in 2023 with felony counts involving assault with a semiautomatic firearm and the grossly negligent discharge of a firearm.
In February 2024, a judge granted Andrews diversion on a negligent-discharge charge. One of the conditions of that diversion was that he complete an anti-bias program through the Museum of Tolerance.
Prosecutors later alleged that Andrews did not complete the program. Instead, they said, he contacted the Museum of Tolerance and a Jewish temple in May 2024 and left voicemails containing antisemitic statements, slurs and threats.
The calls led to misdemeanor charges for harassing phone calls and a request by prosecutors to terminate Andrews’ diversion.
On Dec. 13, 2024, the court found that Andrews had violated the terms of his diversion and sentenced him to 16 months in state prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He was later released on parole, which expired June 22, 2026.
That previous history is now part of the prosecution’s account of the latest case, particularly because the earlier court order had specifically required participation in an anti-bias program.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Andrews had previously been given an opportunity to address his bias but allegedly instead went on to make the latest threat. Hochman said, “Hate crimes have no place in our community.”
California treats threats motivated by religion as potential hate crimes
California law provides enhanced protections when criminal conduct is motivated by a person’s actual or perceived protected characteristics, including religion.
The California Department of Justice’s hate crime guidance explains that a hate crime is a criminal act motivated, in whole or in part, by characteristics such as religion, race or ethnicity, nationality, gender, disability or sexual orientation. The state also distinguishes hate crimes from hate incidents that may involve offensive or hateful conduct but do not necessarily meet the legal definition of a crime.
The state has continued to track hate crime reports across California. In its 2025 report released in July 2026, the California Department of Justice said there were 1,955 reported hate crime events statewide, compared with 2,023 in 2024. The report recorded 289 anti-Jewish bias events in 2025, down from 310 the previous year.
The department cautioned that hate crime data can be underreported and that not every law enforcement agency submitted a full year of data for 2025, meaning the figures do not necessarily capture every incident that occurred in the state.
For the Redondo Beach case, however, the allegations are being handled through the criminal court system, with prosecutors charging Andrews with a civil-rights violation as a hate crime along with the separate criminal threat counts.
Case now moves toward arraignment
The next major court date is Andrews’ Sept. 16 arraignment on the information at the Torrance Courthouse. His bail remains $275,000.
The case is expected to proceed based on the felony allegations that prosecutors say arose from the August calls to the Jewish Community Center. The District Attorney’s Office has not indicated that Andrews has been convicted of the new charges.
For now, the central allegation before the court is that Andrews used repeated calls to make antisemitic statements and ultimately threatened violence against the Redondo Beach facility while children were there.
The court’s decision to hold him to answer means prosecutors presented sufficient evidence at the preliminary stage for the case to proceed. It does not constitute a finding of guilt.
Andrews remains presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
