Teen Pleads Guilty to Cross Burning
A Pittsburgh-area teenager has pleaded guilty to burning a cross in the yard of a mixed-race family in November 2009.
19-year-old Michael Bealonis of Robinson burned the cross at a home where three young children – including an adopted African-American boy – were living.
Court records say Bealonis and others burned the cross in the backyard of the house, and shouted racial slurs during the burning.
"This teen used an unmistakable symbol of bigotry and hate to threaten a family with violence simply because the race of a child. These incidents have no place in our country, and they are a reminder of the civil rights challenges we still face today," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "We will continue to aggressively prosecute hate crimes of this kind."
Bealonis will be sentenced May 25.
http://www.justice.gov/usao/paw/pr/2011_february/2011_02_09_01.html
19-year-old Michael Bealonis of Robinson burned the cross at a home where three young children – including an adopted African-American boy – were living.
Court records say Bealonis and others burned the cross in the backyard of the house, and shouted racial slurs during the burning.
"This teen used an unmistakable symbol of bigotry and hate to threaten a family with violence simply because the race of a child. These incidents have no place in our country, and they are a reminder of the civil rights challenges we still face today," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "We will continue to aggressively prosecute hate crimes of this kind."
Bealonis will be sentenced May 25.
http://www.justice.gov/usao/paw/pr/2011_february/2011_02_09_01.html
.jpg)
Comments