A man has been arrested in Alabama accused of blinding a gay man in Florida with two family members.
Three family members have been charged with a hate crime after kidnapping and beating a gay man so severely that he was permanently blinded, Broward, Florida prosecutors said Tuesday.
Two parents and their son were formally charged Tuesday on counts of first-degree attempted murder, burglary with battery and kidnapping “with prejudice” — all charges enhanced under Florida’s “hate crime” law. That means they all face up to life in prison on each count. Charged so far are Inna Makarenko, 44, Yevhen Makarenko, 43, and Oleh Makarenko, 21, all of Pompano Beach. They have been in jail since last month, records show. They’ve already pleaded not guilty, according to court records. The family’s defense attorney did not initially respond to a request for comment.
Another son, Vladyslav Makarenko, 25, was jailed in Alabama, transferred to Broward County on Monday and is awaiting a decision from prosecutors on whether he’ll also be charged under the hate crime statute., and public court documents reveal little about about what happened. The victim, who is declining to be named publicly, was attacked around Aug. 6 in Pompano Beach. According to one court document, the trio brandished a “firearm or other deadly weapon” during the attack.