Lewes Man Arrested for Hate Crime after Harassing Insurance Employees

LAUREL, Del. – The Laurel Police Department arrested a man on Thursday after he made multiple threats toward employees of a local insurance company.

Police arrested 51-year-old Brian Rightsell on charges of disorderly conduct, harassment, terroristic threatening, and hate crime. He was taken into custody without incident with assistance from the Delaware State Police. Rightsell has since been arraigned and released on his own recognizance bond.

At 4:33 p.m. on Mar. 5, officers were contacted by staff at The Insurance Market regarding a series of disturbing phone calls from a customer later identified as Rightsell. During the calls, Rightsell allegedly became extremely disorderly and directed obscene profanity toward an employee. His remarks escalated to the point of racial and religious slurs and threats of violence being directed to the employee. 

As the incident progressed, the owner of The Insurance Market contacted Rightsell and informed him that his business would no longer be accepted. During that conversation, Rightsell allegedly continued using profanity and made threats indicating he would locate the owner and commit acts of violence against them as well.

As part of his conditions of release, Rightsell is ordered to have no contact with the victims or any locations of The Insurance Market.