Clark Co. man sentenced for hate crimes against Haitian immigrants

A Springfield man will 20 years in prison for federal and local crimes targeting the Haitian community.

Izaye Eubanks, 22, pleaded guilty in August to hate crimes against at least eight Haitian nationals, according to a media release by the Department of Justice.

“Attacks like these, where a group of individuals is singled out and targeted for violent assaultive conduct because of who they are, will not be tolerated,” The Justice Department will continue to enforce our federal criminal civil rights laws and prosecute those who commit violent, bias-motivated crimes in our country,” Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said.

In January and February Eubanks committed various assaults, robbers, and carjacking of Hatiaian individuals because of the victim’s actual or perceived nationality, according to court documents.

He would travel through Springfield looking for people he believed were from Haiti and attack them.

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On Jan. 29, Eubanks attacked and robbed a victim while they were walking to wire cash to their mother in Haiti.

He punched the victim in the back of the head and neck, causing him to briefly black out, then robbed the victim, according to court documents.

On the same day, Eubanks also assaulted a victim as he left Friendly’s Bankery, a Haitian market.

On Feb. 1, Eubanks directed juveniles to help him complete four separate attacks on five victims.

Eubanks will serve his federal sentence concurrently to the one imposed in Clark County Court of Common Pleas, according to the DOJ.

He pleaded guilty to five counts of second degree felonious robbery in his local case.

He will serve four years in prison for each robbery count concurrently with federal imprisonment.