Thomas Howard, 62, told Judge Barbara Dawkins that he's "not proud" of what he's done. "I've taken ownership of what I've done, and I'm not proud of it," he said. So, why did he commit a series of anti-gay hate crimes in Chicago? He's a Trump supporter, and the former President gave his fans permission to be the worst people possible, and they embraced that.
And the way the police caught him is almost funny. It's as if he told on himself with his bumper sticker.
CBW Chicago reports:
Chicago police identified the man responsible for a series of anti-gay hate crimes because he is the only person in the area who bought a bumper sticker showing Donald Trump urinating on Joe Biden's name, prosecutors said Thursday.
He's an absolute genius.
Between May and January, Howard repeatedly targeted a family's home in the 5700 block of North Mason with anti-gay actions, Assistant State's Attorney Sarah Dale-Schmidt said.
Howard went on the family's porch twice last year, in May and again in July, to chop their pride flag in half, Dale-Schmidt said. In the latter incident, he "flipped off" the family's security camera. A few months later, he sprayed their rainbow flag with stain from a Super Soaker.
Time after time, he left "right-wing political notes and stickers" on the family's home as surveillance cameras recorded him, said Dale-Schmidt.
Even though Howard lived less than a block from the family's home, nobody recognized him even after media reports spread the news of the crimes last autumn.
After supporters helped the family paint over hateful messages he left on their garage last fall, Howard allegedly returned to paint "creeps," "weirdos," and "POS dems" on the property. To cap it off, he slapped a bumper sticker on the family's garage that showed former President Donald Trump urinating on President Joe Biden's last name, Dale-Schmidt said.
So, investigators looked into where someone could purchase the Trump-Biden sticker; behold, there was only one place on eBay. The authorities then obtained a grand jury subpoena for eBay sales records, and that's how the police determined that Thomas Howard was the only person in the area who bought one.
The judge called Howard's alleged actions "harmful and repugnant," He was ordered to pay an $8,000 bail deposit to be released from jail. The Trump supporter is charged with felony counts of hate crime, stalking, and criminal property damage.
It's going to be very uncomfortable for him to live in that area after what he did to his neighbors. Imagine getting that upset over a pride flag.
