Four men, two of whom are UW-Madison freshmen, face charges of criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct for their alleged involvement in a hate crime that occurred in Ogg Hall shortly before winter break. Maximum penalties could mean nearly four years of jail time and $30,000 in fines for each defendant.
Benjamin Chamberlain and Michael Riha are accused of damaging an Ogg bulletin board informing students of available Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender services and defacing a whiteboard affixed to the door of an LGBT liaison, according to the criminal complaint.
Early Dec. 21, Chamberlain and Riha, along with Kevin Cochacki of Naperville, Ill. and Caleb Moore of Auburn, Ala. were drinking in Riha's room in Ogg and discussing how conservative they were, according to the criminal complaint.
When Riha mentioned there was an LGBT liaison in Ogg, the four went the liaison's door and one or more of them tore down pictures from the bulletin board and allegedly spit on his door, the complaint said.
The complaint said Chamberlain wrote on the liaison's personal whiteboard, 'I hate fucking faggots. Die.'
The liaison, who asked that he not be named, said he heard noise outside his door at approximately 2:30 a.m. and opened the door, at which point he said he saw three individuals running away from his door.
He then pursued the individuals and confronted them, asking for their names, at which point they pushed past him and ran down the stairs, he said.
According to the complaint the four proceeded to Sigma Chi fraternity.
Riha is also charged with obstruction after allegedly misinforming the interviewing officer, Detective Carol Ann Glassmaker of the UW-Madison campus police.
The liaison said Riha has since voluntarily moved out of university housing.
He also said incidents such as this are not uncommon in the dorms.
'I think it happens every year, but this year it seems like there's been quite a few hate crimes in housing,' the liason said.
But, he said University Housing is working to put programs in place to address the issue.
Chamberlain's lawyer, Jon Callaway, said his client expressed remorse for the incident.
'He makes no effort to minimize his conduct,' Callaway said. 'And at the appropriate time I expect that he will publicly accept full responsibility for the behavior in which he engaged.'
The housing liaison said the community in Ogg has been very supportive since the incident and that despite the episode, he feels safe in the building.
'Individuals can have these beliefs but they can't act on them in the way that they did,' he said. 'It disrupts other people's environments.'
