Illinois teen puts up black classmate's picture on Craigslist with 'slave for sale' caption, charged with hate crime
Authorities reported how an Illinois student is facing a hate crime charge after he uploaded a photo of an African American classmate on Craigslist and captioned it "slave for sale."
Naperville's police chief revealed Wednesday that the 14-year-old suspect, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has been charged with two counts of committing a hate crime and one count of disorderly conduct, CNN reports.
Both students attend Naperville Central High School, where the accused allegedly took a photo of the victim on November 14. A subsequent investigation found the juvenile had posted the ad saying the location for the sale was Naperville, alongside some additional unidentified offensive language, per authorities.
The photo was allegedly taken in the school's lunchroom, where they both sat at the same table. According to WLS, the suspect and the victim, who is also 14, were teammates on the school's wrestling team.
"The allegations against the juvenile, in this case, are beyond disturbing," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert B. Berlin said. "Hate crimes have no place in our society and will not be tolerated in DuPage County. Anyone, regardless of age, accused of such disgraceful actions will be charged accordingly."
Meanwhile, Naperville Police Chief Robert Marshall described the incident as despicable and extremely offensive.
"Every single person deserves the right to feel safe and welcome in our community, and this department will continue to strive to make that a reality by thoroughly investigating any allegations of hate crimes and bringing those found responsible to justice," he said.
Speaking to WGN, the victim's mother revealed the two were once friends before the suspect started making disparaging comments about him. "The moment he started teasing my son, calling him dumb, making fun of his skin color, saying 'shut up slave' last October, they are not friends anymore," she said.