Friday, October 15, 2010

An 11th Hispanic suspect has been arrested in connection with a series of anti-gay beatings in New York

The suspect, identified as Luis Garcia, 26, is accused of wrapping a chain around his fist and punching a 30-year-old victim twice, New York police said. He faces similar charges as the other suspects, which include assault as a hate crime, police said. One of the other 10 suspects was released on bail after a hearing in Bronx Criminal Court. Ruddy Vargas-Perez faces 10 charges in the case, including four counts of robbery, second-degree gang assault, hate crime, harassment, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon. His bond was set at $25,000. The case involved three victims being held against their will by several assailants who beat them in an unoccupied apartment and sodomized two of them, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. A fourth victim was beaten and robbed in connection with the attacks, which New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg described as torture. The string of attacks began when members of a street gang calling themselves the Latin King Goonies learned that an aspiring member was gay, authorities said. Ten of the suspects live in the Bronx, police said. Pending charges include unlawful imprisonment, abduction, sodomy, assault, robbery, and menacing, all as hate crimes, the commissioner said.

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