Photo: CBS 12
No jail time for a man who vandalized an LGBTQ Pride intersection in Delray Beach.
20-year old Alexander Jerich was sentenced on Tuesday.
"This should not be happening, especially during Pride Month."
Rand Hoch, President of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, is upset that Jerich only has to do 100 hours of community service and two years of probation.
"I don't see any accountability in this. The judge just gave the least possible amount to satisfy something."
Hoch says the sentence allows Jerich to get away with using his truck during a Trump Birthday parade last June to make giant skid marks all over the brand new rainbow-painted crosswalk.
He wanted Jerich to be charged with a hate crime, but Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg declined to do that, prompting Hoch who is a former judge to say that Aronberg "screwed up."
"I've been fielding calls all day from people in the gay community that feel very unsafe now."
Hoch says Tuesday's announcement comes on the heels of an online threat made against a Pride event over the weekend in West Palm Beach. A suspect in Canada has been arrested for that.
He says there was an opportunity to send a message that you "don't come to Palm Beach County and deface our LGBTQ anything."
Instead, he says, the message being sent is "Come on down to Palm Beach County where you can vandalize cultural memorials all you want with no consequences."
Jerich will also have to pay court costs of nearly $800 and undergo a mental health evaluation. He's also paid the city to repair the art work.
Hoch believes the crosswalk has been re-painted.
"There will be a re-dedication ceremony on Saturday."
Jerich had pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and reckless driving. He was scheduled for sentencing in April, but the judge at the time told him to write and turn in a 25-page essay on the Pulse Nightclub shooting. This Sunday is the 6th anniversary of that tragedy.