Two sentenced in swastika-branding case

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Two Farmington men received prison sentences Wednesday on federal hate crime charges that involved branding a swastika into their Native American victim's skin.

Paul Beebe was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison and Jesse Sanford was sentenced to five years in prison.

In 2010, Vincent Kee, 22, a developmentally disabled, Navajo man, was lured to Beebe's apartment . Beebe admitted to branding a swastika into Kee's arm.

Beebe, Sanford and a third man, William Hatch, drew hate speech on his body and shaved a swastika on his head.

They also heated a coat hanger on a stove to brand the swastika into his arm, prosecutors said.

Kee's mother sat in federal court in Santa Fe with her son Wednesday listening while Beebe and Sanford faced them to apologize.

When the defense and also the judge brought up the topic of the swastika being used as a Native American symbol before the rise of the Third Reich, Kee and his family felt disgusted.

"The swastika has nothing to do with the Native American," said Kee's mother, Bernice Silversmith, after the sentencings.  "We don't know anything about those swastika signs. We have no knowledge of it

They are, though, happy with the sentences.

Kee, who said he was getting nightmares after the incident, spoke to the court of how he loves his Navajo Nation and loves his people.

"I'm OK. I didn't get scared," he said.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the third man, William Hatch, 29, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a hate crime and is awaiting federal sentencing.

In 2011, a state jury convicted Hatch on charges for conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. He was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison.

Beebe and Sanford took plea deals from the state and are awaiting sentencing on those charges.

In July, 2010 Beebe and Sandford entered Alford pleas, which meant they admitted there was enough evidence for a conviction although they did not admit guilt. The pleas were accepted because it would be too hard to prove Kee was kidnapped.

Sanford and Hatch both pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges.