A Florida woman has been charged with a hate crime after her Black neighbor accused her of damaging his house, spray painting his car, and yelling racial slurs at him.
Matthew Roberts says he has been harassed by his Clermont, Florida, neighbor Yamil LaChapelle Ortiz for months because of his skin color.
“Me waking up at five o’clock in the morning to hear her banging on my stuff with a shovel. She broke the glass there and the front window and sprayed the swastikas all over my truck,” said Roberts to Fox 35 News.
Roberts’ surveillance camera in his driveway caught a woman identified as Ortiz dressed in dark clothing using a shovel to damage his camera, spray paint his pickup truck, broke a window on the side of his house, and smashed his outside lights.
“I’m pretty sure this approach she took to me was because of my skin color. She’s made comments calling me ‘black monkey,’ ‘go back to my third-world country,’ telling me I’m a human trafficker,” Roberts said to Fox 35 News.
He also said that he has taken video with his phone of her verbally abusing him and using racial slurs.
“Go back to Africa, little monkey, go play the victim somewhere else!” Ortiz can be heard yelling in the video.
Police said that Ortiz claimed that Roberts shaved her head, raped her, and killed her baby, according to the arrest affidavit. Police said those things were found to be not true.
“It does hurt, because I love everybody,” Roberts said to Fox 35 News. “To treat me like that for my skin color, it’s hurtful because I spend literally half of every day of my life helping people.”
Ortiz was arrested and charged with criminal mischief with a crime enhancement and resisting arrest.
Roberts estimated the damage to his property to be $7,000.
“I think the enhancement, which may take it up a degree on the felony charge, is not something that should be taken lightly,” said Sgt. Fred Jones, spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Ortiz was arrested on April 25 and was being held at Lake County Detention Center. She has a bond set for $5,000 and is scheduled to appear in court on May 22.
