An Arizona man went on a racist diatribe Thursday after a Utah court sentenced him to nine months in prison for committing a hate crime against a Black child and his father.
Mark Porter was indicted on federal hate crime charges in March after authorities said he used a racial slur against a 7-year-old boy at his apartment complex in November 2016, then shocked the child’s father in the chest with a stun cane, station KSTU-TV reported.
The boy’s father, Mark Waldvogel, was trying to intervene and defend his son but wound up getting injured himself.
“I just said, ‘Get out of here you little stinking n—-r,’ ” Porter told FBI agents during his arrest, which was captured on police body cam video. “I said, ‘I’ve got something for you,’ and I come out, and I held my Zap Cane out, right? And [the father] walked up against it, and it went against his chest.”
The arrest failed to teach Porter a lesson, however, as he delivered another racist rant during his sentencing this week. According to KTSU-TV, the 59-year old spent several minutes rambling about his racist beliefs, describing Black people as “pimps” and drug dealers who often commit violent crimes.
“I just don’t like seeing them or being around them,” he told the court. “They’re dangerous people” who he knew to be “very violent.”
The 59-year-old maintained he had done nothing wrong, but his interactions with FBI agents last September tell a different story. During his arrest, the suspect was heard making several derogatory statements about Black people.
“See, Hitler had the right idea,” Porter, who now lives in Arizona, told one of the federal agents. “The wrong people. Should’ve gassed n—–s. At one point he asks the agent, “You’re not a white trash n—-r lover, are you?”
The racist man said he even notified his apartment complex about his views, telling them “I don’t want to live next to any of them” when he first moved in.
Jeanetta Williams, the president of the NAACP’s Salt Lake City branch, said she was disappointed by the judge’s 9-month sentence and said Porter clearly wasn’t sorry about his actions. The judge also gave the suspect credit for time already served, making him eligible for release on June 15.
“He had no remorse whatsoever,” Williams said. “No apologies for what happened and what he did.
Waldvogel, the child’s father, issued a brief statement following the ruling, condemning Porter as a “violent and hateful.”
“My little family and I are extremely disappointed in the judge’s decision regarding the sentencing,” he told KTSU-TV. “It’s sad & disheartening. Mr. Porter is a violent and hateful individual who has deep rooted erroneous beliefs. We hope that no one else becomes a victim at the hands of Mr. Porter in the future. We will be forever grateful to the Draper Police Department, the US Attorneys and the Federal Attorneys who helped us along the way.”
