3rd Texas man admits hate-crime assaults on a gay men

PLANO, Texas – A third Texas man has pleaded guilty to hate-crime assaults on men because the victims were gay.

Chancler Encalade pleaded guilty Monday in Plano to assaulting men because they were gay. Previously, Nigel Garrett and Cameron Ajiduah (ah-JEED’-wah) entered similar pleas to crimes under the federal hate-crimes statute.

Encalade, Garrett and Agiduah have admitted that they and Anthony Shelton used a dating website for gay men to arrange to meet their victims in the victims’ homes. Once there, they would bound their victim with tape, physically assault and verbally abuse the man for being gay, then steal items from their homes.

The men could be sentenced to up to life in prison and fined up to $250,000. No sentencing date has been set. Shelton still awaits trial.