CHICAGO – A man with ties to white supremacist Matt Hale has been charged with attacking two teenagers after they told him they were lesbians, prosecutors said Friday.
Patrick Langballe, 29, of Winnetka, Ill., was charged along with Aaron Rush, 20, of Green Bay, Wis., with a hate crime, armed robbery, aggravated battery and unlawful use of a weapon in the June 16 attack against the teens, ages 17 and 18, at Illinois Beach State Park near Zion.
The men were arrested Thursday near Gurnee by Lake County sheriff’s investigators. In a court hearing Friday, bail was set at $1 million for Langballe and $1.5 million for Rush, prosecutors said. The men were being held in Lake County Jail.
They are scheduled to again appear in court July 18.
“Obviously any kind of a hate crime we’re going to vigorously investigate and in the appropriate cases prosecute them,”
“You can’t use physical force to show your displeasure with somebody’s lifestyle,” said Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Matt Chancey.
Langballe was convicted in November 2000 of a hate crime after he led a group of teenagers in spray-painting swastikas and racial slogans on several buildings, including a temple.
In last week’s attack, the girls, who are from the Milwaukee area, told investigators they met Langballe and Rush near a bus stop in Milwaukee. They had mutual friends and decided to camp at the park with friends of the men, Chancey said.
About 3 p.m., Rush made a sexual advance toward one of the girls, who told him she was in a lesbian relationship with the other girl and they “did not like men in a romantic way,” according to a news release from the sheriff.
Langballe and Rush told the girls that they were members of the Nazi nation and that “gays and lesbians were no better than Jews and blacks,” Chancey said.
Langballe and Rush took some of the girls’ clothes from their car and burned them, authorities said. The girls got scared and left, but returned five minutes later when they realized they had some items that belonged to the men, authorities said.
Langballe and Rush beat the girls and threatened them with a sledgehammer and a knife as they stole money, credit cards, a camera and cell phones, Chancey said. Rush pulled out the knife and threatened to kill one of the girls, authorities said.
One girl had minor injuries to her face, arms and legs, officials said.
The men had several items of Nazi and white supremacy paraphernalia when they were arrested, authorities said.
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