PITTSBURGH, PA – A former resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court to federal hate crime charges, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today.
Zachary Dinell, 28, formerly of Freedom, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, ten counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and one count of concealing material facts in a health care matter before United States District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan
According to admissions made during Dinell’s plea hearing, he and co-defendant Tyler Smith were employees of an in-patient health care facility located in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. Residents of the facility suffered from a range of severe physical, intellectual, and emotional disabilities, and required assistance with all activities of daily life, including bathing, using the bathroom, oral hygiene, feeding, and dressing. As members of the facility’s Direct Care Staff, Dinell admitted that he and Smith were responsible for providing this daily assistance to residents.
From approximately June 2016 to September 2017, Dinell further admitted that he and Smith engaged in a conspiracy to commit hate crimes against residents of the facility because of the residents’ actual or perceived disabilities. Dinell and Smith carried out assaults in a variety of ways, including by punching and kicking residents, jumping on residents, rubbing liquid irritants in their eyes, spraying liquid irritants...
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