A Mason City man has pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with the housing rights of an African-American family. Twenty-one-year-old Justin Hanson in a plea agreement admits to placing a racially offensive sign in a family’s yard last May, and the next day firing a B.B. gun into the victims’ home, breaking a bedroom window.
Hanson admits to attempting to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the victims’ enjoyment of their federally protected housing rights because of the victims’ race and because they were living in his neighborhood. U.S. District Judge Linda Reade has set Hanson’s sentencing for July 16th. He faces up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.