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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Cops Get Prison Time for Covering Up Hate Crime

(CN) - Two Pennsylvania police officials were sentenced Wednesday for covering up a hate crime - the beating death of a Mexican immigrant by white high school football players.

The young men who beat Luis Ramirez to death in July 2008 skated through state charges in a jury trial decided by a reportedly all-white jury, but three of the four assailants were convicted on federal hate crime charges and recently sentenced to prison terms ranging from nine years to five and a half years.

Matthew Nestor, who was chief of the Shenandoah, Pa., police department at the time of the murder, was convicted in January of filing a false report to mislead the investigation.

Former police Lt. William Moyer was convicted that same day of lying to the FBI after he misreported the statements of witnesses to the crime.

Nestor, who faced a maximum 20-year sentence, was sentenced to 13 months, as well as supervised release, community service and a $100 fine. Moyer, who faced five years, was sentenced to three months and the same additional penalties.

A third police officer who was reportedly dating the mother of one of the assailants was acquitted by the jury on charges that he obstructed justice.

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