Mississippi man sentenced to 42 months for burning cross

March 10 (UPI) -- A Mississippi man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for trying to intimidate his Black neighbors to move from their home by burning a wooden cross on his yard.

U.S. District Judge Halil Ozerden sentenced Alex Charles Cox, 24, of Gulfport, Miss., to 42 months in prison, three years of supervised release and restitution of $7,810 on Thursday. Cox had pleaded guilty in early December to violating the Fair Housing Act.

He was charged by a grand jury in September with one count of criminal interference with the right to fair housing and one count of using fire to commit a federal felony.

Prosecutors said following a dispute with his Black neighbors on Dec. 3, 2020, Cox wedged two pieces of wood together, doused them with oil and set it ablaze on his yard.

The indictment states that Cox also hurled "threatening and racially derogatory" remarks toward his neighbors during the incident.

"This cross burning was an abhorrent act that uses a traditional symbol of hatred and violence to stoke fear and drive a Black family out of their home," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said Thursday in a statement.

"While one might think cross-burning and White supremacist threats and violence are things of the past, the unfortunate reality is that these incidents continue today," Clarke said. "This sentence demonstrates that importance of holding people accountable for threatening the safety of Black people in their homes because of the color of their skin or where they are from."