Police in Muskegon Heights, Michigan are desperately searching for a group of people that brutally beat a teenager, stripped him naked, and posted a video of the attack on Facebook.
“They beat him up because he’s gay,” says Police Chief Joseph E. Thomas Jr.
The incident occurred Saturday, November 4th.
Thomas identified a suspect by analyzing the video, and he’s now asking the public for help in locating him.
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The suspect’s name is Trevon Lee Godbolt (above), an 18-year-old who also goes by Trevon Lee Taylor. Thomas says his last known address was in Muskegon.
Related: 22-year-old was defending his gay friends when this man shot him dead
There’s a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest.
The upsetting video features the 17-year-old being beaten as someone uses their phone to record the crime.
The victim is repeatedly beaten and called derogatory names, later begging his attacker to “please stop.”
Godbolt replies, “Why you on this gay shit?”
At the end of the film, the victim is forced to strip naked and allowed to run off. Women can be heard cackling and shouting, “Catch him!”
In addition to Godbolt, Thomas believes another man and two women were involved in the crime.
“We’re going to be investigating this fully,” he says. “All participants are going to have a hard time.”
The victim was allegedly lured to a section of Edgewood School, where he was then attacked.
Two counts have been filed against Godbolt: unarmed robbery and unlawful imprisonment. These carry harsher penalties than assault, and could put the perpetrator behind bars for up to 15 years.
The prosecutor’s office reviewed the case as an ethnic intimidation charge or some other hate crime, but the state doesn’t have any criminal statute that covers an assault based on sexual orientation.
“We’re not going to let this go,” says Godbolt. “We’re going to hunt him down.”
Thomas has since contacted the FBI, who expressed interest in pursuing the case on a federal level.
The morning after the attack, the chief was sent a copy of the vid posted to Facebook.
“We join the community of Muskegon County in expressing our outrage over this senseless act of violence,” reads a press release from the prosecutor’s office.
“We will work to protect this particular victim and any other victim that is targeted because of his or her sexual identity or orientation.”
Have info about Godbolt’s wherabouts? Call 911 or Silent Observer, (231) 72-CRIME.
You can also leave tips at www.silentobservermuskegon.com.
h/t: MLive
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
“Women can be heard cackling and shouting, “Catch him!””
#metoo
Donston
Yes, because a couple of people can represent 50% of the population. I could suss out that you had some issues, but only recently has your misogyny shone through.
Sometimes, I really wonder about certain individuals. “Is this person mainly into this gender just because they hate the other?”
batesmotel
Horrible. I hope they catch every single one of them and throw them in jail. Too often the punishment for these sorts of crimes are minimal. They get a slap on the hand. These people should be behind bars for decades. It’s not like it’s going to be any great loss. They have already shown they won’t amount to anything and will never have a real job.
Nahald
I can GUARANTEE these thugs call themselves Christians, which hardly seems likely !
fur_hunter
And who is to blame…… RELIGIONS! They use a book written over 1500 years ago by men, NOT God, supported by moronic organizations such as the American Family Association and the Alliance Defending Freedom. None are using the modern scientific and medical knowledge, regarding homosexuality. They are using ridiculous information from that stupid imbecilic book, the BuyBull. Religions puke forth false information and HATE from pulpits and the morons sitting in their congregations who can’t think for themselves believe every word, thinking it is coming from God. RELIGIONS are to blame for all incidences such as this. RELIGIONS are to blame for the HATE that exists in the world today. RELIGIONS disgust me!
Zeke_Krahlin
Couldn’t have said that better myself, or even half as good. Thanks!
startenout
Wrong. Ignorance is to blame NOT religion. My church throughout the diocese is not only gay friendly, but my church personally has had a gay priest and are about to welcome another as his replacement along with his husband. Your ignorance of religion is nearly as awful as the bigots who use religion as their excuse to commit hatred against their fellow men.
joopThe Netherlands
All these kind of hatecrimes has for 98% to do with religoin. Wether its Baptists, Catholics, christian or Islam. It stinks. more then 90% of the world in termoil has to do with the ignorance of religion. They dont say for nothing “religion is poison for the mind”.
gravityyaoi
Hope he recovers quickly and I’m glad the police aren’t letting this go.
irbaboon
Was the victim black too?
Ummmm Yeah
Still don’t want to talk about violent black homophobia? I know post another article about Grindr preferences.
demetreus
Shame on me for wasting my time, but I find your attempt to race-bait funny and an epic fail.
StupidBoy
$500? Where is the $50,000 reward for this? What price are they putting on this? $500? That’s a gift card that a company gives out to employee of the month, not for the apprehension of murderers.
nebskram
umm mr lac-o-comprehensions skills aka stupidboy
nobody was murdered so ur name fits well
Tombear
If they were really serious about finding the perps the police should have offered fried chicken and watermelon for the reward!
Eldred
They caught his ass!! HELL YEAH!!
http://woodtv.com/2017/11/07/prosecutor-teen-stripped-robbed-because-of-sexual-orientation/
Bob LaBlah
Thank you for posting that update.
xflare
Yikes, that’s the oldest looking 18 year old ive ever seen.
Stache
Looks about as stupid as you’d expect as well.
Mr-DJ
This is quite confusing… The author here has used the name “Godbolt” in reference first as the victim’s last name, then the perpetrator’s last name, and thirdly the sheriff. WHICH IS IT?
nebskram
its not confusing you just need to learn how to read
Notright
Wow this is sad. Well if you like check out https://gayblackproud.org to learn more