Thursday, October 15, 2015

UPDATED::KRISTV.com | Continuous News Coverage | Corpus Christi - Corpus Christi residents charged with federal hate crime charges

UPDATE::  Texas Men Plead Guilty to Federal Hate Crime Charges for Racist, Antigay Attack
A second man involved in a brutal 2012 attack on an African-American gay man in Corpus Christi, Texas, pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges Thursday, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Jimmy Garza, 33, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit hate crimes, and one count of a hate crime violation based on the victim’s sexual orientation, FBI officials stated in a Thursday release from the Southern District of Texas of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Along with 22-year-old Ramiro Serrata, Jr., Garza was accused of attacking the unidentified victim in a dispute over a $5 debt. Even though the victim paid the two men, the assailants assaulted him while using racial and homophobic slurs. The victim escaped by jumping out a second-story window.
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Serrata pleaded guilty to the same charges earlier this month. Both men will be sentenced on December 9, and each face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
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Federal hate crime indictments were returned Monday against two Corpus Christi men accused of beating and torturing a gay black man back in 2012.

In the days after the alleged attack, the victim told KRIS6 News he was targeted because of sexual orientation and race. Per policy, we are not identifying the victim of an alleged sexual assault.

He detailed how he owed the men $5. The victim claims that even though he paid them the money, they still beat him, poured bleach in his eyes, stripped him naked and sexually assaulted him with a broom or mop and forced him to clean up blood in the home.

KRISTV.com | Continuous News Coverage | Corpus Christi - Corpus Christi residents charged with federal hate crime charges

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