Men to serve 9 months for Modesto hate Crimes

Bee Staff Reports
29/4/2011

FRESNO — Two men who pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in the vandalization of three Modesto houses of worship were sentenced to nine months in prison Friday — years less than they could have received.

Brian Lewis of Modesto and Abel Gonzalez of Morgan Hill, both 23, faced up to 10 years in prison for conspiring to violate the civil rights of members of Congregation Beth Shalom. They also admitted vandalizing Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church and School and the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation by spray-painting the walls.

The men were 18 when they committed the crimes in February 2006. They have apologized to members of the churches.

Lewis and Gonzalez each received sentences of nine months in jail and 36 months of supervised release on the felony charge of conspiracy to violate civil rights. Lewis also was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

A third man, Andrew Kerber, 23, of Chico, also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of damaging religious property. He was sentenced to 36 months of probation, with a condition that he serve six months of home detention with electronic monitoring at his expense.

U.S. District Judge Law- rence J. O’Neill also ordered the three men to pay $3,700 in restitution.
“Today’s sentences demonstrate that those who employ hate and intimidation to jeopardize the First Amendment rights of their fellow Americans to worship freely will be held accountable for their criminal conduct,” said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.

Slurs and desecration

At the Greek Orthodox Church, the lawn was damaged, a black “666” was painted on a stone cross and a satanic symbol was placed across the church’s tile steps. The double doors leading into the church’s office were painted with upside-down crosses, a pentagram and expletives.
The synagogue’s tan brick walls were defaced with swastikas, the desecrated Star of David, racial epithets, a reference to Germany’s secret police of the 1940s and a slur to go “back to the ovens,” presumably a reference to the Holocaust of World War II, during which 6 million Jews were murdered.

At Our Lady of Fatima, a rock the size of a cantaloupe was thrown through a 7-foot window.
“Americans have the right to worship as they choose, free from intimidation and harassment. Today’s sentences make clear that we will enforce that right,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner.

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