Ray Lazier Lengend, Hate Crimes, New York 2012
QUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO 18 YEARS AND 10 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR HATE CRIMES
Ray Lazier Lengend, 46, was sentenced to 18 years and 10 months in prison for perpetrating hate crimes in Queens, New York.
Lengend pleaded guilty in December 2017 to two counts of hate crimes through the use of fire and explosives. He was sentenced by United States District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall in federal court in Brooklyn.
The crimes occurred on January 1, 2012, when Lengend went on a firebombing spree, attacking five buildings in Queens with Molotov cocktails, including a Shiite mosque, the Imam Al-Khoei Foundation and a private residence that housed a Hindu temple.
With respect to the mosque bombing, Lengend stated that he had intended to 'take out as many Arabs as possible.' Lengend was arrested the next day and subsequently stated that he hated Arabs, Muslims and Middle Easterners.
The government's case is being handled by the Office's Civil Rights Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Taryn A. Merkl and Nomi Berenson are in charge of the prosecution.
The defendant, Ray Lazier Lengend, is a 46-year-old resident of Queens, New York. He was prosecuted in a parallel proceeding in State Supreme Court in Queens, and pleaded guilty to attempted arson as a hate crime and was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment in October 2017. Today's sentence will run concurrent with the state sentence.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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