Florida man pleads guilty to cross burning in couple's yard
PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) - A Florida man has pleaded guilty of setting a cross on fire in an interracial couple's yard.
Federal authorities said in a news release Friday that 45-year-old Thomas Herris Sigler III of Port Richey pleaded to one count of conspiring with others to threaten, intimidate and interfere with an interracial couple's enjoyment of their housing rights.
Officials say Sigler was living in a largely white community in Pasco County when an African-American couple moved into a house on his street. On Halloween 2012, Sigler and two others decided to burn a cross in the couple's yard to intimidate them.
The documents say Sigler, along with his co-conspirators, made a wooden cross and poured gasoline on it. They then took it to the couple's house and set it ablaze.