Hate Crime In Cicero

Felipe Rivera of Cicero has been charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated battery and a hate crime for allegedly beating, raping and sodomizing a man. Rivera and the victim met at a party on 1200 block of South 50th Avenue, and Rivera thought the victim winked at him.

Rivera followed the victim to the outer staircase of a basement apartment, where he removed the victim's pants and raped him, authorities said. Afterward, Rivera punched the victim in the head, leaving him semi-conscious, then inserted a metal broom handle in the victim's rectum, sources said.

Rivera then went to his mother's house, where she called the police because she has an order of protection against him. In a video-taped confession, Rivera said he attacked the man because he hates gay people "'and this is what they get,'" according to police.

The victim is in stable condition.

There were 7,722 reported hate crimes in the US in 2006, and 5,646 reported criminal sexual assaults in Illinois.

[Sun-Times, Trib, and photo via Suburban News]