A Midvale man pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to two hate crimes.
Sean Adrian Simmons, 28, had previously pleaded not guilty to five misdemeanor violations of the Fair Housing Act, "violating the rights of individuals to peacefully occupy a dwelling or home without interference due to race or color."
But as part of plea agreement reached with prosecutors, Simmons admitted to printing racial epithets on a car and on the front door of a condominium owned by an African-American man and his wife, who is Polynesian. The couple is known in court documents only as "E.J.T." and "G.J.T."
Simmons was also charged with writing a racial slur on a truck the couple had rented when they moved into the Hillcreek Condominiums in Midvale. He was accused of slashing the tires of the car and truck. But those charges were dropped in exchange for Simmons' guilty plea.
"We felt (the remaining charges) were the most illustrative," said U.S. Attorney Paul Warner. "The others might have been construed as simple vandalism."
Warner said the couple has moved from the Midvale condos since the incidents occurred last March. Simmons may be asked, as part of his sentencing, to pay restitution to the couple to cover their moving expenses.
U.S. Magistrate Ronald Boyce scheduled Simmons' sentencing for June 1. He could serve as much as two years in prison and pay $200,000 in fines.
Warner declined to comment about psychological and psychiatric evolutions Simmons was ordered to undergo while in federal custody except to say that it revealed a "pattern of behavior that caused us to move on this particular matter."
Local law enforcement officers originally investigated the case but asked federal prosecutors to charge Simmons with the crimes.
For four years, the Legislature has not strengthened Utah's hate crimes law by enhancing penalties for committing crimes because of bias or prejudice against a particular group.
E-mail: mtitze@desnews.com