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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Texan Pleads Guilty|to Hate Crimes

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (CN) - A Texan faces up to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sodomizing a gay black man with a broom at gunpoint, a hate crime.

Ramiro Serrata Jr., 22, admitted in court Tuesday that he and his buddies brutalized the man they trapped in a Corpus Christi apartment on March 8, 2012.

Serrata said they punched, kicked and hit the man with a frying pan, a mug, a belt and a sock filled with batteries as they screamed insults at him.

"Serrata admitted that when the victim began to bleed, the conspirators forced him to remove all of his clothing and clean up the blood throughout the apartment," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

"After the victim was completely naked, one of the conspirators pointed a gun at the victim, while Serrata sodomized him with a broom."

The assailants also poured bleach in the man's eyes and pistol-whipped him before he escaped through a window, prosecutors said in a statement announcing Serrata's plea.

Serrata pleaded guilty to a sexual orientation hate crime and conspiracy to commit hate crimes. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison at his Dec. 9 sentencing. He is in custody.

Prosecutors also charged Jimmy Garza Jr. with hate crimes. He pleaded not guilty and his trial is set for Sept. 29.

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