Mich. police: Gay teenager was attacked, forced to strip in video posted online

Detroit Free Press

A suspect will be arraigned Wednesday for the robbery and beating of a man who says he was attacked for being gay.

Trevon Godbolt is accused of attacking a man for being gay.

Muskegon Heights police officers say 18-year-old Trevon Godbolt, also know as Trevon Taylor, lured a 17-year-old victim to a dark area near Edgewood Elementary School.

Godbolt reportedly made the victim strip off his clothes and possessions, then beat him and took his clothes. Police believe another man and two women were involved, one of whom recorded the attack on a cell phone. The video was later posted on Facebook.

"This young man was targeted based on his sexual orientation," said D.J. Hilson the Muskegon County Prosecutor.

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The victim was released from a Muskegon hospital after receiving treatment for cuts and bruises.

Michigan State Police arrested Godbolt at a residence following a tip to Silent Observer. He faces charges of unarmed robbery and unlawful imprisonment, which carry a maximum sentence of 15 years.

In the video, the suspect can be seen grabbing and beating the victim who yells "please stop."

The suspect repeatedly calls the victim a "gay n-word" and verbally berates him. The victim is forced to strip his clothes off.

"Take the shirt off too," the suspect said. "I'm not playing with you...take everything off before you leave, even your drawers."

The suspect then tells the victim to run off, and he is chased by two women, one of whom is filming the assault. She laughs and yells, "catch him."

Was this a hate crime?

In Michigan, there is no charge for assault based on sexual orientation.

A Senate bill was introduced earlier this year that would incorporate sexual orientation into the state's ethnic intimidation charge. But it never made it out of committee.

The current law states:

A person is guilty of ethnic intimidation if that person maliciously, and with specific intent to intimidate or harass another person because of that person's race, color, religion, gender, or national origin.

"I would hope that our legislature would use this as an example as to why we need to expand the law and include groups such as this to protect them," said Hilson.

Police Chief Thomas sent a report on the assault to an FBI investigator.

"He said 'Chief send it to me, I will take it to the U.S. District Attorney and I will see if we can't get a Federal indictment for a hate crime'" said Thomas.

In 2015, law enforcement agencies nationwide reported 1,219 hate crime offenses based on sexual-orientation bias, according to FBI.gov. Of those offenses, 62.2 percent were classified as anti-gay (male) bias.

Serena Johnson is the Director of Victim Services at Equality Michigan. Their statement read:

We are deeply saddened by these actions, and we send our thoughts and prayers to the survivor and his family. At a time when we are seeing the highest number reports of anti-gay youth violence, homicides of transgender and gender non-conforming people, this violence is totally unacceptable. We need to protect these lives at all stages, but especially in youth where they experience bullying, family rejection and violence that affects them throughout their lives.”

WZZM contributed to this report.