19-year-old charged with hate crime, accused of intimidating family of Utah teen targeted in alleged homophobic attack

A 19-year-old was charged with hate crimes in Utah Monday, accused of intimidating the family of a gay teen who was allegedly targeted in a homophobic attack late last month.

Hayden Perry Stowell, of Sandy, was charged in 3rd District Court with retaliation against a witness, a third-degree felony; and criminal mischief, a class A misdemeanor — both charges filed with hate crimes penalty enhancements. He’s accused of returning to the victim’s home to steal LGBTQ pride flags “with the only clear purpose to further intimidate and harass” the victim, charging documents state.

According to local television station KSL-TV, Stowell is a friend of another teen, who was arrested for allegedly punching a gay teen who was hugging his boyfriend in front of his home.

Police say that on July 30, the 17-year-old victim was standing with his boyfriend at the curb outside his home in Sandy, about 17 miles south of Salt Lake City, when a group of teenagers in a silver Infiniti Q50 drove by and started yelling homophobic slurs at the couple.

They returned about 45 minutes later and punched the teen, who was taken to the emergency room for memory loss and extreme headaches.

He was later diagnosed with an internal head injury from the beating.

WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

Early Saturday morning, nearly two weeks after the alleged homophobic attack, the mother of the victim said that the home’s security cameras picked up an unfamiliar face on the property.

“She later looked out the window and observed all her Pride flags strewn about her front yard and the street in front of her home. At least one of the flagpoles had been broken during the process. Both [the victim and his sister] have been struggling with anxiety and fear since the assault on July 30, and with the continued intimidation they felt by the damage to their flags,” according to charging documents.

One witness who saw the surveillance footage told police that she “immediately recognized” the person damaging the Pride flags. That person was identified as Stowell, who was also present during the July 30 incident.

According to authorities, he vandalized the flags just hours after the original assailant was booked into juvenile detention, on Friday.

“Stowell ripped down the Pride flags just 12 hours after [the teen] was booked into detention,” the charge states. “Stowell has returned to the scene of the original assault with the only clear purpose to further intimidate and harass [the boy] after [Stowell’s friend] was booked into custody.”

A judge ordered that Stowell be held without bail, local television station KSTU-TV reported. He’s scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.