Photo Courtesy of Daily Mail/ Snapchat
An unidentified student at Naperville Central High School in Illinois was sentenced to probation and community service after pleading guilty to felony hate crime charges for posting a racist Craigslist ad about a Black classmate two years ago.
The Daily Herald reported that DuPage County state’s attorney’s office said the teenager pleaded guilty to two counts of felony hate crime after he shared an ad offering his Black classmate up for “sale.”
At his sentencing, the boy was given two years of probation and 100 hours of community service.
The student at the time of the incident was a 14-year-old freshman. He decided to take a picture of his classmate on November 14, 2019, and uploaded it on Craigslist with the caption, “Slave for sale (Naperville),” along with a racial slur.
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Naperville police opened an investigation into it a few days later, and the teen was given an in-school suspension by Naperville Central as punishment.
“Hate crimes have no place in a civilized society and will not be tolerated, regardless of the accused’s age,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in the news release. “Studies show that the victims of hate crimes can suffer from depression, increased anxiety, low self-esteem, and insecurity, among other things. Everyone deserves the right to feel safe and welcome in our communities, and my office will continue to charge and prosecute anyone, regardless of age, who engages in this type of behavior.”
The teenager will also be required to undergo individual and family therapy and submit a DNA sample to the State of Illinois, CBS Chicago reported.
Tamara Wallace, the mother of the Black victim, said her son and the boy who posted the ad were once close friends while they played football and wrestling together.