ALBUQUERQUE, May 11 (UPI) -- Three New Mexico men who attacked a mentally disabled man, branding his arm with a swastika, may receive hate-crime sentencing enhancements, prosecutors said.
Jesse Sanford, 24, William Hatch, 28, and Paul Beebe, 26, of Albuquerque were each charged with four felony counts of kidnapping, aggravated battery and other charges for the attack late last month on the 22-year-old man of Navajo, N.M. The three remained in jail Monday on a $150,000 cash-only bond each, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Police said the incident occurred in a Farmington apartment where the men also drew racist and obscene words and pictures on the victim's body and shaved a swastika into his hair.
Police said they seized cellphone videos in which one of the men asked the victim if he wished to be branded. The victim responded affirmatively, which police said indicated "pleasing behavior" on the part of a victim toward his attackers.
Each defendant faces a sentence of up to 35 years on all counts with the hate-crime enhancement, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Sarah Weaver.
"We're treating it as a hate crime because we believe there is evidence that hate, either based on race or disability, was the motivation for the crime," said Weaver.
The Navajo man arrived in Farmington by bus on April 29 when he met the three defendants at a Farmington fast-food restaurant where all three worked, police said.
