(WWJ) A man arrested last spring for a violent attack at a southeastern Michigan beach pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal hate crime.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, 43-year-old Lee James Mouat, Jr. of Newport, Michigan, willfully caused bodily injury to a Black teenager because of the victim's race.
According to the plea agreement, Mouat confronted a group of Black teenagers, including the victim, at Sterling State Park in Monroe County's Frenchtown Township on June 6, 2020.
Mouat repeatedly used racial slurs and said that Black people had no right to use the public beach where the incident occurred. Mouat then struck one of the teens in the face with a bike lock, knocking out several of the victim’s teeth, lacerating his face and mouth, and fracturing his jaw. Mouat also attempted to strike another Black teenager with the bike lock, the feds said.
This case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Frances Carlson of the Eastern District of Michigan and Trial Attorney Tara Allison of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.
“Mouat’s hateful and violent conduct, motivated by racial intolerance, was intended to physically harm the victim as well as create fear within the African-American community,” said Special Agent in Charge Timothy Waters of the FBI’s Detroit Division, in a statement. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to ensure that if a crime is motivated by bias, it will be investigated as a hate crime and the perpetrators will be held responsible for their actions. We encourage anyone who has been the victim of or witness to such a crime to report it to the FBI.”
“Hate-fueled incidents like this one have no place in a civilized society,” added Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela Karlan for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is committed to using all the tools in our law enforcement arsenal to prosecute violent acts motivated by hate.”
Mouat will be sentenced at a hearing scheduled for June 24, 2021. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.