Man Sentenced to Jail in Hate Crime Case
LANCASTER — A judge has ordered a Lancaster man to 18 months in jail for shouting racial slurs and death threats at several MTA bus passengers, prosecutors said Friday.
Los Angeles Municipal Judge Alan Ellis on Thursday also sentenced James Thomas Araque, 35, to three years’ probation and six months of drug treatment, said Deputy City Atty. Brian Williams.
Araque pleaded no contest to a hate crime charge and being under the influence of cocaine, Williams said.
Officers arrested Araque around 1 p.m. Wednesday after he shouted racial slurs and threatened to shoot several passengers as he boarded an MTA bus in Los Angeles, Williams said.
Officers caught up to Araque when he got off at Wilshire Boulevard and Detroit Street. They said Araque was sweating profusely and had eyelid and facial tremors. A search later turned up a metal smoking pipe in his shirt pocket, Williams said.
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