Three more people were arrested and charged with hate crimes in a targeted attack on a man who was allegedly kicked, spit on and called derogatory names because of his sexual orientation, police in Maryland said.
Sean Antone, 19, Benjamin Brandenburg, 18, and Logan Clark, 19, were taken into custody a little over a week after the Salisbury Police Department announced the arrests of 12 Salisbury University students in the Oct. 15 assault.
Antone was arrested by the Howard County Police Department on Nov. 7, authorities said in a news release. Brandenburg was arrested by Salisbury police on Wednesday, and Clark turned himself in to Salisbury police on Thursday. Their charges mirror those received by the others including first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, false imprisonment, and hate crime offenses.
Attorneys for Antone and Brandenburg could not be reached for comment on Saturday. Attorney information for Clark was not listed. The university did not confirm if the three are students at the school.
Police said they were contacted by university police on Oct. 31 about an alleged assault at an off-campus apartment complex for college-aged students. Detectives met with witnesses and saw cellphone footage that allegedly showed “an adult male victim being assaulted by several college-aged men,” police said in a Nov. 7 news release.
Detectives met with the victim and learned that on Oct. 15 a group of men used a social media account to invite the victim to a residence “under false pretenses,” the release stated. When the victim entered the residence, “numerous college-aged men surrounded the victim and forced him to sit in a chair isolated in the middle of the living room,” according to police.
The victim was “forcefully seated,” he was allegedly “kicked, punched and spit on while the men called the victim derogatory names,” police said. The victim told detectives that he tried to leave multiple times but the group threw him to the floor.
Police said the assault lasted for several minutes before he was allowed to leave. The victim said he sought medical attention and had bruises as well as a broken rib.
Investigators said the man was targeted due to his sexual preferences.
Several of those charged are members or associates of the school’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. In a Nov. 7 letter, Salisbury University President Carolyn Ringer Lepre called the incident “an act of visceral hate” and said the fraternity was placed on suspension.
Attorney Steve Rakow is representing Riley Brister, one of the 12 students initially arrested. Rakow said the 20-year-old will plead not guilty to the charges. The other students in the initial arrest are Ryder Baker, 20; Bennan Aird, 18; Cruz Cespedes, 19; Dylan Earp, 20; Elijah Johnson, 19; Zachary Leinemann, 18; Cameron Guy, 18; Jacob Howard, 19; Eric Sinclair, 21; Patrick Gutierrez, 19; and Dylan Pietuszka, 20.
They were all suspended, Lepre said.
Rakow accused the school of jumping to conclusions “by suspending these young men before there has been any findings related to this incident.”
A community vigil and unity walk was held Monday on campus.
