2 NY teens charged with beating, robbing immigrant

PATCHOGUE, NY: Two teenagers were charged here with a hate crime in the robbery and beating of an Ecuadorean man just steps away from where another immigrant died last year in a notorious bias attack.

Curt J. Hatton, 19, and Matthew J. Mont, 16, pleaded not guilty to third-degree assault as a hate crime at separate arraignments in First District Court in Central Islip. A third man, 20-year-old Ramon Rodriguez, was charged in the attack on Milton Balbuca.

All three were being charged as adults and were held on $50,000 bail or $100,000 bond.
Suffolk County Police said Balbuca, a 22-year-old day laborer, encountered three young men Aug. 14 while walking home from a friend's house at about 11:30 p.m. One of them punched Balbuca in the face, and the other two kicked and punched him as he fell to the ground, police said.

Yelling anti-Mexican remarks and racial epithets, the assailants took the man's cash, sneakers and T-shirt before fleeing, police said.

The bleeding, wounded victim walked to the train station, where someone called for help. He was treated for cuts and bruises at a nearby hospital and was released.

Also, Judge Stephen Lotto granted an order of protection against the suspects in the case to ensure they stay way from Balbuca if they are released on bail. A call to Hatton's attorney was not immediately returned.  Mont's attorney was out of the office and unavailable for comment.

The incident stirred memories of the deadly stabbing of Marcelo Lucero, which helped spur an ongoing US Justice Department investigation into bias crimes on eastern Long Island.

-AP