A Mount Laurel, New Jersey, man, captured on video in 2021 harassing and intimidating his Black neighbors, has been sentenced to eight years in prison after taking a plea deal with the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
Edward Cagney Mathews pleaded with Superior Court judge Gerard H. Breland on Friday, Dec. 8, for a more lenient sentence, but his plea was unsuccessful. The judge issued a sentence specifying that Mathews must serve at least four years in prison before being eligible for parole.
With tears, he accepted responsibility for his actions before the court and offered an apology to those that he hurt with his “insensitive and disrespectful” rants and actions, all stemming from deeply ingrained racist beliefs.
He went on to express how his conduct caused shame and pain to his family and also led to the dissolution of his marriage. He said his wife filed for divorce and sold their townhome, and since being in jail for the last two-and-a-half years, he has lost all his belongings.
“Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. I want to commit to rebuild the community,” Mathews said at the sentencing hearing, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The sentencing comes after the 47-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of bias intimidation and possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute on Tuesday. Oct. 17. The footage, which went viral on social media, showed him verbally harassing his Black neighbors with racial slurs and spitting on him from his doorsteps, challenging them to “come see” him and calling some of them “monkeys.”
In addition to the verbal altercation, Mathews also put feces on his Black neighbors’ property, sent emails to the Black residents of the Essex Place condominium association, and shot BB gun pellets at their vehicles.
The man has been terrorizing his Black neighbors in the South Jersey community since 2020, according to the prosecution, but noted no one in the tenants’ association was ever able to gather evidence to charge him with a crime.
Assistant County Prosecutor Jamie Hutchinson presented victim impact statements from four individuals, either current or former residents of the Mount Laurel condominium association. Notably, these statements included perspectives from LeRon Brown, the former president of the homeowners association, who is Black, and his wife Denise, who is white.
“The actions of what he did will forever stay a nightmare of the fear and anxiety he bestowed upon me. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder and trusting no one,” Denise Brown wrote in a statement.
She and her husband wound up moving from the community because of their interactions with Mathews, uprooting the home they built over the last 20 years in the development. This family was not alone. Another Black board member of the association moved out because of the racial harassment.
Burlington County prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw released a statement following the sentencing.
“Our office is committed to combating bias crimes and sending a clear message that such actions will not be tolerated in our community. Nobody should have to endure what these victims experienced,” Bradshaw wrote.
His latest sentencing adds to the 11 felony convictions he has received since 1995.
The judge noted that since Mathews has spent 886 days in prison since he was arrested, he will credit him with the time already spent in custody. This will make him eligible for parole in approximately 16 months.
Apart from the imposed sentence, the court mandated Mathews to pay $4,408 in restitution and undergo racial sensitivity training while in prison. This training is intended to support his expressed goal of “rebuilding community.”
