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Two Puerto Rican Men Plead Guilty to Federal Hate Crime
Two Puerto Rican men, Jordany Rafael Laboy-Garcia and Christian Yamaurie Rivera-Otero, pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit a hate crime and obstruction of justice, arising out of an assault with a dangerous weapon against a transgender woman.
According to court documents, on February 24, 2020, at around 12:29 a.m. ET, Laboy-Garcia and Rivera-Otero, along with their former co-defendant Anthony Steven Lobos-Ruiz, were out driving together in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, when they saw the victim, identified as A.N.L., standing under a tent near the side of the road.
The defendants recognized A.N.L. from social media posts concerning an incident that had occurred the day prior at a McDonald’s in Toa Baja. During that incident, A.N.L. had used a stall in the McDonald’s women’s restroom.
Lobos-Ruiz used his iPhone to record a video of himself yelling, ‘la loca, la loca,’ as well as other disparaging and threatening comments to A.N.L. from inside the car. The defendants then decided to get a paintball gun to shoot A.N.L. and record another iPhone video.
Within 30 minutes, they retrieved a paintball gun and returned to the location where they had last seen A.N.L., who was still at that location. Lobos-Ruiz then used his iPhone to record Laboy-Garcia shooting at A.N.L. multiple times with the paintball gun. After the assault ended, Lobos Ruiz shared the iPhone video recordings with others.
The Justice Department, in a statement, said that the defendants are being held accountable for assaulting a transgender woman because of her gender identity and then trying to obstruct an investigation into that assault. ‘Acts of violence against LGBTQI+ people have no place in our society today,’ said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Sentencing hearings for both defendants have been scheduled for November 10.
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Violent Crime|Sex Crimes|Hate Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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