12 college students charged with hate crimes after assault in Maryland

A dozen students at a university on Maryland’s Eastern Shore have been arrested after they lured a man to an off-campus apartment, beat him up and called him a homophobic slur, according to local police.

In addition to assault and false imprisonment, the 12 young men are facing hate crime charges for allegedly targeting the assault victim because he’s gay, Salisbury police said in a news release. According to charging documents, one of the defendants made a fake account on a dating app and promised the man sex with a 16-year-old.

Steve Rakow, an attorney representing one of the defendants, vehemently denied the alleged motive. He said the man never reported the incident because he was trying to have sex with a teenage boy.

Read more: AP