Feds Charge Police Chief in Coverup of Hate Crime Murder of Mexican Immigrant

Michael Rubinkam and Kathy Matheson write for the Associated Press:

The Shenandoah police chief and two officers under his command are charged with orchestrating a cover-up in the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant by altering evidence or lying to the FBI in a hate crimes case against two popular football players.

The former Shenandoah High School athletes, 19-year-old Derrick Donchak and 18-year-old Brandon Piekarsky, have now been charged with a federal hate crime, accused of beating Luis Ramirez in a park on a night in July 2008 as they headed home from a party, the Justice Department said Tuesday in Washington.

State prosecutors who tried unsuccessfully to win ethnic intimidation or murder convictions against the athletes had alleged that the attackers yelled racial epithets at Ramirez and that one gripped a piece of metal to give his punches more power.

One of the indictments accuses police Chief Matthew Nestor, Lt. William Moyer and Officer Jason Hayes of conspiracy and falsifying documents “with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence the investigation.” Moyer is further accused of witness tampering, destroying evidence and lying to the FBI.

Each officer faces up to 20 years in prison on obstruction charges and five years for conspiring to obstruct justice. Moyer also faces five additional years for making false statements to the FBI. Click here for more.

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