Two Biddeford men face federal hate crime charges for allegedly assaulting an African-American man in a 7-Eleven parking lot in April. The Department of Justice says Maurice Diggins and Dusty Leo were indicted by a grand jury Monday.
The indictment alleges that while the victim was walking across the parking lot, Diggins and Leo drove up in a pickup truck at high speed. One of them yelled “who’re you eyeballing?” and then used a racial slur.
Donald Clark, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Maine, describes what happened next.
“Diggins allegedly got out of the truck, repeatedly called the victim a racial slur and blocked his entry into the store. He then circled him and got the victim’s back to the truck. According to the indictment, Leo got out of the truck, walked behind the victim and struck him forcefully in the head,” Clark says.
Diggins and Leo both pleaded not guilty. The federal charges could bring 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. They were being held in federal custody pending separate bail hearings.