Brother Rice Student Threatened with Noose, Victim of Hate Crime

Updated: Thursday, 26 Jan 2012, 4:03 PM CST
Published : Wednesday, 25 Jan 2012, 9:04 PM CST

By Craig Wall, FOX Chicago News

Chicago - Three youths have been charged with a hate crime in connection with an incident in which a black Brother Rice student says he was threatened with a noose by a fellow student and two other teens.

The incident happened off campus, and the school is continuing to look into the matter.

The suspects are between 16 and 18 years old.

“He walks over to me, with the noose in his hand, he comes puts the noose around my neck and he begins to tighten the noose, almost strangled me to the ground,” hate crime victim Joshua Merritt said.

Merritt, 17, is a senior at Brother Rice. His alleged attackers, who are all white, used to be his friends, he said.

On Dec. 23, when he went to the home of the 16-year-old, the three suspects turned on him.

He said they put the noose around his neck twice and wouldn’t let him leave the house, and at one point one of them pulled out a switchblade.

Merritt told police that during the incident, his attackers repeatedly used the N-word and they threatened to kill him.

When Merrit was finally able to get out of the house, he said he was going down the sidewalk to catch a bus home when the 16-year-old jumped him from behind.

“The same guy that put me to the ground earlier comes up to me with a knife from behind me,” Merritt said, “and said ‘stop talking to my cousin, you’re annoying her. If you don’t stop I’m going to kill you.’”

Merritt said it was his friendship with that girl, the white cousin of the 16-year-old suspect, that apparently sparked the incident.

Matthew Hermann, 18, of Alsip, was charged with felony counts of unlawful restraint and hate crime, as well as misdemeanor battery, police said. He is a 2011 graduate of Brother Rice. The two other suspects, ages 16 and 17, are facing the same charges in juvenile court. The 16-year-old who was also charged with aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon.

The teens were charged Jan. 10, police said.

The mother of the 16-year-old has called the allegations lies. The president of Brother Rice said the 17-year-old suspect told his staff it was just horseplay that went too far.

The school is hoping to get a copy of the police report, and that could lead to disciplinary action.

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/joshua-merritt-hate-crime-victim-threatened-with-noose-brother-rice-student-20120125

May 24, 2011

Two Wheaton Warrenville South High School students face disciplinary action after admitting today to taunting two African-American freshman lacrosse players from Naperville North at a game Friday in Wheaton, officials said.

Bob Rammer, assistant superintendent for operations in School District 200, said an investigation led to the two sophomore students. One student admitted using a racial slur. The other student admitted taunting the players.
 
“The student that used the racial obloquy was an African-American, but that in no way diminishes his comment,” Rammer said. “But I think it indicates it wasn’t a racial issue between the students as it was originally portrayed.”

Rosalind Crosby, the mother of the two Naperville players, who are the only African-Americans on the freshman team, said late Tuesday, “For him (Rammer) to say it’s not a racial issue, then I understand why they (the students) feel comfortable to spread out racial terms in public. … Can’t you just say that it’s just wrong. … That’s clearly still a negative racial slur.”  
 
Rashad and Sharad Crosby were on the receiving end of the comments as they exited the team bus prior to a game against Wheaton Warrenville South, Rashad said Monday.
 
According to Rashad, people in a van near the bus “kept yelling and laughing, like it was really funny. He said the same group attended the game, and while he didn’t hear racial slurs during play, other taunting continued against him, his brother and their teammates.
 
District 200 officials were made aware of the situation Monday after receiving a letter from the boy’s mother. Rosalind Crosby said she has received an oral apology from Healy and an email apology from Rammer.

Rosalind Crosby said Monday that her sons told her at least two people directed a racial slur at them before the game.
 
It is not immediately clear how the two Wheaton Warrenville South students will be reprimanded, but Rammer said it could range from a lengthy detention to expulsion. The extent of their punishment will depend on their background and previous history.
 
Both students have also written letters apologizing for their actions to Rashad and Sharad Crosby, as well as to the Naperville North principal. The letters will be delivered Wednesday, Rammer said.
 
“We continue to feel bad for the incident and for the discomfort the Naperville North students experienced while they were participating, or least observing, an activity of ours,” he said.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/news/local/chibrknews-wheaton-students-admit-to-taunting-at-lacrosse-game-20110524,0,2601974.story?track=rss

Found guilty of hate crime for spray-painting anti-Semitic graffiti on headstones

December 3, 2010

 man who denied on the witness stand that he’s a neo-Nazi was found guilty Friday of a hate crime for vandalizing a Jewish cemetery near Norridge.

Mariusz Wdziekonski, 25, of Norridge, was found guilty of felony vandalism and unlawful acts on cemetery grounds for spray-painting anti-Semitic epithets and white supremacist hate symbols on dozens of headstones at Westlawn Cemetery in January 2008.

After his arrest, authorities said Wdziekonski, a Polish national, was a member of the National Socialist Movement, which the Anti-Defamation League calls the largest and most active neo-Nazi group in the U.S.

Authorities said they found photographs of Wdziekonski dressed as a German storm trooper and said that he was fascinated with Nazi history and culture.

“He was immersed in that,” said Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren Brown. “He was proud of it.”

During the 21/2-day trial at the Skokie branch courthouse, Wdziekonski testified that he was not a neo-Nazi but simply a collector of Nazi memorabilia.

Relatives of some of the people buried in the cemetery tearfully testified at the trial about the emotional impact of seeing their loved ones’ graves desecrated. Brown said one headstone was spray-painted with a noose with a Jewish Star of David dangling from it.

“They were amazed by the amount of destruction,” she said.

The ADL in a statement Friday called the case a “deplorable anti-Semitic incident which is a hate crime against the entire community.”

Prosecutors said Wdziekonski, who has been held on $250,000 bail since his arrest, could face anywhere from probation to seven years in prison when sentenced Dec. 17.

http://www.wsbt.com/news/ct-met-hate-crime-verdict-20101203,0,179363.story?track=rss

November 1, 2010

A Chabad House serving Northwestern University in suburban Chicago was vandalized.

A message using a racial slur to call for the death of Muslims and African Americans appeared this week on an electronic sign in the window of a business in Oak Park.

Oak Park Deputy Police Chief Anthony Ambrose said a village employee spotted the sign Thursday night in the front window of a business on the 6500 block of North Avenue.

Police contacted the business owner, who gave police permission to enter the building and cover the sign, Ambrose said.

Lee Ribeiro, owner of Vicrad TV, said he thought police were calling about a break-in to his electronics store. Instead, the 18-inch electronic crawl sign at the top of his storefront window had apparently been hacked and a racial slur left on it.

“I don’t know. Maybe some people who are good at programming computers [did it],” Ribeiro said.

Ribeiro uses a remote device to program the sign for store promotions. The sign is not easily accessible from either inside or outside the store, which led Ribeiro to believe someone hacked into it.

“It’s bad for everything, for me and you. Never seen anything like it,” said the owner of a nearby business.

Oak Park officials were shocked that the incident would occur in a community that prides itself on racial diversity.

Police have tentatively categorized the incident as a disorderly conduct, but they seek more information to determine if a hate crime has been committed.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/2849012,CST-NWS-muslim30.article

10/21/2010 - 9:40am

CHAMPAIGN – The Republican candidate for state Senate in the 52nd District said Wednesday night that black men “find it more lucrative to be able to do drugs or other avenues rather than do education.”

Al Reynolds, 65, of Danville made the remarks at a candidate forum at the Champaign City Building. The forum was co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Champaign County NAACP.

Reynolds’ comments came in response to a question about increasing the number of black and Latino students at the University of Illinois.

“I’ve been in the city and the dichotomy of the women and the men in the minorities, there is a difference in the fact that most minority women, either the single parent or coming from a poor neighborhood, are motivated more so than the minority men,” he said. “And it’s a pretty good reason. Most of the women who are single parents have to find work to support their family. The minority men find it more lucrative to be able to do drugs or other avenues rather than do education. It’s easier.

“We need to provide ways that are more incentive, other than just sports avenues, for the men for the minorities to want to go to college and get an education and better themselves before the women have to support them all.”

The audience, which at that time numbered only about 25, seemed stunned.

A few minutes later Reynolds’ opponent, state Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign, addressed his opponents’ comments.

“I’ve been in this community for a long time now. I’ve been working in this community for a long time and I’ve worked with a lot of African-American men. They’re not pursuing careers in sports. They’re not trying to sell drugs. They’re trying to support their families. They’re trying to be good people,” he said.

“I’ve attended church around here. There are good families around here. There are some obstacles placed in their way and the state needs to tear them down. But I’ve met a lot of good people in this area and I don’t think we should stereotype them all like that.”

Frerichs’ remarks received sustained applause from the audience, which included a number of African-Americans.

After the forum had ended, Reynolds repeated his comments.

“Look at the number of black men who opt out of getting a job and opt out of higher education. They don’t even make it out of high school because the lucrative drug trade is so rampant that it’s just easy for them to fall into that. What are the avenues for the black man to get out of the ghetto? He becomes a star athlete or he does drugs. I mean very few men of the black race get out of that ghetto through education. The women do. The women do because, number one, they’re forced to because they don’t have anybody to take care of them. They do a good job. A lot of the women are very good about getting out and getting an education. The men just have a more … you know, the lure of high money because it’s high money in drugs without having to pay the price of going to school.”

Reynolds is the former head of the East Central Illinois Tea Party. He became the Republican nominee by way of a write-in campaign last spring.

http://m.news-gazette.com/news/politics-and-government/2010-10-21/reynolds-racial-remarks-stun-forum-audience.html

September 21st, 2010 

Two 19-year-old male suspects were arrested by the Champaign Police Department’s Community Action Team for a hate crime and aggravated assault on Saturday.

Police observed five male subjects and a 21-year-old victim engaging in a verbal altercation at the 500 block of East Green Street at 1:35 a.m. on Saturday, according to a press release. When the victim began to walk away, the suspects “provided the appearance that they were attempting to provoke a fight.”

The police began to question the suspects and victim and were told that the two men had made a racial comment and threatened the victim with bodily harm. The victim also told police one of the suspects grabbed his shorts.

After one man fled the scene, the other four suspects were detained. Two 19-year-old men were arrested for a hate crime and aggregative assault. An 18-year-old man was arrested for possession of cannabis under 30 grams. A juvenile was detained but later released.

The department’s community action team was created about two months ago when the number of attacks that occurred on Campustown became more prevalent. The team works to thwart crimes in progress and identify crime suspects.

http://www.dailyillini.com/news/campus/2010/09/21/two-students-arrested-for-hate-crime-and-aggravated-assault

Vandals Target Rogers Park Synagogue

First Posted: 09-22-10 09:26 AM

ROGERS PARK | Break windows, slash Sukkah; Jewish groups pressure police to pursue case as hate crime

Worshippers at a Rogers Park synagogue arrived Tuesday to find the windows broken and the sides of a Sukkah — a temporary structure where meals are eaten during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot — slashed, police said.

Jewish groups were pressing police to pursue the overnight vandalism against Temple Menorah, 2800 W. Sherwin, as a hate crime.

“It is particularly painful to see this act of vandalism as Jews ready themselves for Sukkot, a holiday that remembers the 40 years the Jews spent wandering from Egypt to Israel,” said Dan Elbaum, director of the American Jewish Committee in Chicago.

“We call upon all people of good faith to condemn these actions.”

Police were called to the synagogue, which houses three separate Jewish congregations and a Jewish girls’ day school, about 6:30 a.m., where an employee had arrived to find two windows on the building’s east side busted out.

The canvas-sided Sukkah hut on the synagogue’s lawn “had been slashed multiple times with a sharp object,” according Chicago Police spokesman Officer Daniel O’Brien.

The incident happened just three days after the building was filled with worshippers celebrating Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, and two days before the beginning of Sukkot this evening.

It was under investigation by Area 3 police as criminal damage to property, O’Brien said.

Read More: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2734828,CST-NWS-synagogue22.article

September 20, 2010

Two Webbers Falls brothers are facing aggravated assault and hate crime charges in Illinois.

Joe Miller, 28, is free on bond on two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of a hate crime in Lawrenceville, Ill.

Gary Miller, 35, is being sought on the same charges, said Lawrenceville Police Chief Mike Mefford.

Mefford said the Miller brothers were working in Robinson, Ill., when police responded to a disturbance call at 2:49 a.m. Sept. 14 at K’s Motel in Lawrenceville.

The brothers were believed to have been fighting each other, Mefford said.  

Police arrived to find the motel’s owners — Neil and Brenda Middlecoat — injured. The Middlecoats were believed to have been attacked when Neil Middlecoat contacted the fighting brothers and Brenda Middlecoat tried to stop her husband from being injured.

The Millers then fled the scene in a red, Ford F-150 with Oklahoma plates, officials said.

The Middlecoats, who are of Indian descent, were taken to a local hospital and later transferred to an out-of-town hospital. Both were out of the hospital Monday, Mefford said.

Joe Smith surrendered to Lawrenceville police Wednesday and bonded out Friday by posting $5,000 cash, officials said.

He is scheduled to appear in Circuit Court in Illinois at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 28 for an initial appearance before a judge, a court clerk said.

Reach Donna Hales at 684-2923 or dhales @muskogeephoenix.com.

You can help



Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Gary Miller is asked to contact Lawrenceville Police Department at (618) 943-6412 or Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department at (618) 943-5766.

http://muskogeephoenix.com/local/x1288636128/Webbers-Falls-brothers-accused-of-assault-and-hate-crime

Probation in St. Charles County hate crime case

Monday, September 20, 2010

ST. CHARLES COUNTY • A man who was charged with hate crimes for incidents at an O’Fallon, Mo., apartment complex was placed on probation this morning.

Rudi D. Ballard, 31, of the 16000 block of Applerock Drive, pleaded guilty in July on three counts of felony unlawful use of a weapon motivated by discrimination.

Ballard approached seven people on the evening of Sept. 18, 2009 and threatened them with a gun. Each time, he shouted obscenities about their Indian heritage.

Ballard apologized at his plea hearing in July and said alcohol fueled the incident. Prosecutors said he apologized again at this morning’s sentencing hearing and said he was not a hateful person. The victims did not speak at the hearing.

Prosecutors recommended a three-year sentence. They opposed probation. Circuit Judge Nancy Schneider placed Ballard on probation for five years. He must serve 20 days of shock time in jail, and Schneider ordered him to write a letter of apology to his victims if they want one.

If Ballard violates the terms of his probation, he could be sentenced up to the maximum of seven years in prison and a $5,000 fine on each count. If he completes his probation successfully, he will not have a felony conviction on his public record for this incident.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/5a91eae0-c4f2-11df-a1e1-00127992bc8b.html

9/20/2010 3:27 PM

A hate crime charge against a Grayslake man was dropped Monday in Lake County circuit court after an official said the victim would not assist with the prosecution of the case.

Nicholas Nierman, 27, who had been charged with felony hate crime in the May 30 attack, was released after a hearing before Associate Judge George Bridges.

Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Demartini said the victim, a 29-year-old man from Grayslake, had not responded to repeated phone calls and letters from his office asking the man to come in for an interview.

Nierman, of the 500 block of South Jade Lane, was accused of attacking the man after an incident in a downtown Grayslake bar.

Demartini said the victim and some friends were attending a “Sex in the City” party at the bar. Nierman confronted the man inside the bar, Demartini said, and did so again outside while using a slur aimed at the victim’s sexual orientation.

Some of the victim’s friends tried to calm Nierman, Demartini said, but Nierman rushed up to him and punched him several times while shouting the slur.

The victim suffered a black eye and abrasions and went to the Grayslake police station later in the day and identified Nierman as his attacker.

The case was scheduled to go to trial Monday, but Demartini said that was not possible under the circumstances.

“Without having any contact with the victim, we were unable to proceed,” Demartini said. “It is essential that I be able to interview the victim in order to verify the facts in the police reports.”

If he had been convicted, Nierman could have faced up to three years in prison but would have also been eligible for probation.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=409474

Created: Friday, August 20, 2010 5:30 a.m. CDT

By KATE SCHOTT - kschott@daily-chronicle.com

SYCAMORE – A Maple Park man has been charged with a hate crime after police say he made racial slurs toward a Sycamore merchant.

Two men went to Arya Tobacco, in the 300 block of East State Street, about 7:10 p.m. Wednesday, according to Sycamore Police Sgt. Steven Cook. The store had closed at 7 p.m., and the two men began pounding on the door because they wanted to be waited on, Cook said.

A store employee eventually opened the door and the men entered, Cook said. An exchange of words occurred, Cook said, where the two would-be patrons made a racial slur toward the store employee. He declined to say the nature of the slur or the race of the employee.

The employee attempted to call police, at which point the men grabbed him, forced him outside and began to beat him, Cook said.

After the men left, police identified one of the alleged assailants as Anthony Folmer, 22, of Maple Park. He was arrested a short time later by Kane County law enforcement authorities and brought to the DeKalb County Jail in Sycamore, Cook said. Folmer has been charged with a hate crime and aggravated battery.

Bond was set at $5,000 during a Thursday morning court appearance at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore; Folmer bonded out by 2 p.m., according to the jail. He is next due in court Sept. 16, according to court records.

Police are still investigating the case, Cook said.

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2010/08/19/31535564/index.xml

Dream house turns into alleged discrimination lesson

Housing discrimination alleged in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood

By Mary Ellen Podmolik, Tribune reporter

10:43 PM CDT, August 10, 2010

It seemed like the perfect house for Chicago comedian and radio personality George Willborn and his family.

Built in 2006, the 8,000-square-foot home in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood had large closets for his wife, Peytyn, an outdoor basketball court for their 12-year-old son, a private bathroom for their 19-year-old daughter and a home theater room that was to become Willborn’s “man cave.” They made an offer on the $1.799 million home the day they saw it in early January.

“It was what we considered to be a dream house,” said Willborn, co-host of the nationally syndicated radio program “The Michael Baisden Show.”

What allegedly transpired after their offer is at the center of a federal housing discrimination complaint.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Tuesday that it had filed an administrative complaint against homeowners Daniel and Adrienne Sabbia, real estate agent Jeffrey Lowe and prominent Chicago real estate firm Prudential Rubloff Properties. The agency charged that they violated the Fair Housing Act when the Sabbias backed out of a verbal agreement to sell their home to the Willborns, who are African-American.

Despite agreeing on a $1.7 million purchase price for the home Jan. 4, the Sabbias never signed a purchase contract. According to the complaint, Lowe told the Willborns’ agent, Dylcia Cornelious, on Jan. 11 that the Sabbias had changed their minds and were taking the home off the market, despite it being listed for sale for almost two years.

“By refusing to sign the sales contract,” HUD said in its complaint, the Sabbias “committed unlawful discrimination” by refusing to sell the home to the Willborns “after the making of a bona fide offer because of their race, African-American.”

According to the complaint, during the negotiation process, Lowe told Cornelious that his sellers had researched the Willborns. The complaint noted that Internet searches of George Willborn produced numerous images of him.

The Willborns filed a complaint with HUD on Jan. 29, and after receiving the complaint, HUD said the Sabbias on Feb. 1 offered to sell the home and all its furniture to the Willborns for $1.799 million. The Willborns declined.

“I was appalled,” Willborn said. “The feeling that my entire family has, it’s hard to describe. You’re talking about 2010. I don’t know if people realize it, but we elected an African-American president, so it’s not asking too much to be able to live where we want to live.”

Willborn said the couple found it difficult to explain to their children what had happened. So first, they bought a copy of the television miniseries “Roots” and watched it as a family. They then talked to their son and daughter about prejudice.

“I’ve had to talk to my kids about sex and drugs and all the things they need to arm them,” he said. “We talk about race, of course, like every family, but I never had to do what I had to do in this case.”

According to the complaint, Lowe said in a HUD interview while under oath that while he was representing the Sabbias, Daniel Sabbia told Lowe “he would prefer not to sell the home to an African-American, though he qualified the testimony, saying ‘but if it was for the right price he did not care who bought the house.’”

Neither the Sabbias nor Lowe returned calls for comment. Dennis Dooley, vice president and managing broker at Prudential Rubloff, said it was against corporate policy to discuss litigation.

Read More: http://www.wgnradio.com/business/ct-biz-0811-hud-bias-suit-20100810,0,4277054.story

By Tony Gordon | Daily Herald StaffPublished: 6/30/2010 3:51 PM

A Grayslake man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he beat another man because of the victim’s sexual orientation.

Nicholas Nierman, 27, faces up to three years in prison if convicted of felony hate crime but would also be eligible for probation.

Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Demartini said Nierman, of the 500 block of South Jade Lane, was with a group of friends at a bar in downtown Grayslake around 12:30 a.m. on May 30.

Demartini said the victim, a 29-year-old man from Grayslake, was also at the bar with some friends attending a “Sex and the City” party.

Nierman confronted the victim inside the bar, Demartini said, and used a slur aimed at the man’s sexual orientation.

The victim left, Demartini said, but Nierman followed him and his friends outside the bar and continued to shout the slurs.

Some of the victim’s friends tried to calm Nierman, Demartini said, but Nierman rushed up to the victim and punched him several times while shouting the slur.

The victim suffered a black eye and abrasions, Demartini said, and the injuries were photographed.

The victim and his friends went to the Grayslake police station later that day and some of the friends were able to identify Nierman.

Police attempted to interview Nierman, Demartini said, but he declined to answer their questions.

Associate Judge George Bridges scheduled a trial of the case for Aug. 16 and ordered Nierman, who is free from custody on $2,500 bond, to appear in court July 27.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=391204