Arrest in L.I. church Hispanic hate crime case: Suspect is H

Arrest in L.I. church Hispanic hate crime case: Suspect is Hispanic

BY Wil Cruz
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, September 6th 2009, 4:00 AM


Suffolk County police have busted the man who left an anti-Hispanic note at the altar of a church.

And the suspect is Hispanic.

Christian Mungia Garcia, 25, was arrested Friday night after hurling a wooden log and a glass bottle at a congregant of the Iglesia Evangelica Refugio de Salvacion in Patchogue. Cops later accused Garcia of leaving the hate-filled note Wednesday at the church.

Garcia was charged with attempted assault as a hate crime, police said. He was arraigned yesterday and due back in court Thursday.

The arrest comes on the heels of a Southern Poverty Law Center report that found Latino immigrants in Suffolk County live in a "climate of fear." Last fall, a gang of teens jumped Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero and stabbed him to death.

Still, Mayor Paul Pontieri said Garcia's hate was fueled by an ongoing dispute with members of the church - and not by race. "If you're in Patchogue ... it seems like every incident is immediately painted as a hate crime," Pontieri said. "All eyes are on Patchogue."

Suffolk County police spokesman Tim Motz said the leaving of the note was not a racial hate crime. "It was a hate crime targeting religious practice," Motz said.

State Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. (D-Bronx), who led 60 ministers to Patchogue for a prayer vigil yesterday, questioned the timing of the arrest. "It's very convenient that they arrested someone [Friday] night," he said. "I hope they arrested the person that's been doing all the crimes."

Diaz, a reverend, said he doesn't think Garcia's arrest will make a difference for Latinos. "Will it change anything for immigrants?" he added. "I doubt it."

wcruz@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crim ... z0QLAeHI8w

This is what happens when the government refuses to listen to the American people. This is not an issue of Americans hating hispanics, it is an issue of the church and state giving our country away to illegals. It is about higher taxes for Americans to accomodate this population. It is about crime, diseases, job losses, lower quality of life, land and resource depletion, imposing on our freedom, lack of law enforcement, corporate and political greed and overt descrimination against the American people in favor of the law-breaking, arrogant illegals.


Most Americans before Obama lied his way into the White House, did not have the anger and frustration toward different races that they have now as a result of Obama using race to promote his brand of Fascist politics. It seems Obama's mentor Saul Alinsky suggested getting the races to fight among themselves thereby making it easier for Obama's shadow gov't to take over our Republic. And then Americans of all races and creeds will greatly suffer under his dictatorship.

Just like the illegal aliens who complained their being harassed in suffolk county, but never said anything until a few years later, all BS!

Keep an eye out for many more of these "hate" crimes that are staged to frame opponents of illegal immigration. The illegal aliens are not the ones living in fear. American families are the ones living in fear, vilified by thug tactics of the OBL demonized by our own government and abused by illegal aliens. :twisted:

Posted: Sunday, 06 September 2009 5:05PM

Unexpected Arrest Made in Bias Probe at NY Church

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (AP) -- At first glance, the break-in at the Iglesia Evangelica Refugio de Salvacion looked like another sign of anti-immigrant sentiment on Long Island.

The trespasser left behind three angry notes Wednesday on the altar of the Latino church, including one that said, ``Hispanics don't rule, whites do.''

But the case turned in an unexpected direction Saturday after a Hispanic man with ties to the congregation was charged in the incident.

Suffolk County police said Christhian Munguia Garcia, 25, turned up at the church late Friday and tossed a log and a bottle at people leaving the building.

Parishioners gave chase, grabbed Garcia and held him until police arrived.

Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri Jr. told Newsday the altercation appeared to be the result of a dispute between Garcia and the church pastor. The pastor, the Rev. Roberto Sanchez, told the newspaper Garcia had previously been kicked out of a service because of bad behavior.

The mayor said, ``What concerns me is that people immediately jump to the conclusion that it's a white-on-Hispanic hate crime.''

The notes were left the same day the Southern Poverty Law Center released a report saying Latino immigrants were routinely harassed and taunted in largely suburban Suffolk County, which stretches across eastern Long Island.

An Ecuadorean immigrant was knifed to death near the church last November; seven teenagers have pleaded not guilty to hate crime and other charges in the attack. Another Ecuadorean man was beaten and robbed in the same area by attackers yelling ethnic slurs last month, police said; two teens and a 20-year-old face a hate crime charge in that incident.

Police spokesman Tim Motz said authorities still considered the incident at the church a bias crime because it was directed at religious practice. Garcia was charged Saturday with attempted assault as a hate crime, trespassing and aggravated harassment. He wasn't immediately able to post $7,500 bail.

An assistant district attorney said Garcia was part of a group of four people upset with the church who had also been involved in an earlier rock-throwing incident.

An attorney for Garcia said she hadn't seen any evidence linking him to the notes. She said his anger at the church concerned ``economic practices,'' not religion.

Hispanic activists rallied outside the church Saturday despite the twist in the case.

State Sen. Ruben Diaz said the shifting circumstances didn't change the larger issue of ``anti-immigrant rhetoric'' in Long Island's suburbs.

``We are not blaming the whole community. It is a nice community. But there are some people who give a bad name to the community,'' he said.

www.wcbs880.com