A convicted sex offender from Plainville, Connecticut, has carried on a “campaign of racially based animus” against his African American next-door neighbors, including an incident where he draped himself in a Confederate flag and ran up and down his driveway as their 12-year-old daughter waited for the school bus, a prosecutor charged in court Monday, reports the Hartford Courier.
“I am scared [of Anthony Esposito] because I am Black,” the girl told police. He has displayed a Confederate flag several times when it was only her or her and her friend outside her house, she said. Esposito, 49, faces disorderly conduct and breach of peace charges for incidents involving the couple and their daughter.
In a motion asking Superior Court Judge Maureen Keegan to impose a series of restrictions on Esposito, New Britain State’s Attorney Brian Preleski said Esposito “is a self-avowed racist, sex offender, convicted felon and claims to have ties to the Ku Klux Klan” and that he “has a documented history of not obeying court orders, having twice been found in violation of probation and convicted in 2016 of failing to register as a sex offender.”
The victims said their neighbor’s alleged conduct has unnerved them. “We find it disheartening and disturbing that we are still dealing with verbal, racial threats and racial intimidation tactics in the year 2019,” the girl’s father said. “We are grateful for the support of local and state officials and the various media outlets for shedding light on the issue at hand. We must continue to make the point that racism has no place in this country, for we are all created equal.”
Esposito, of Woodford Ave. Ext., does not face a hate crime charge. Keegan ordered that Esposito have no contact with the family, that he remain inside his house when the 12-year-old gets on and off the school bus each day and that he not fly a Confederate flag within 250 yards of the family’s property.
In his argument to the judge, Preleski said the context of the Confederate flag is important. Esposito has implied he is a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and the family’s daughter heard him make that claim. And Esposito’s actions with the flag were intended to intimidate, threaten and harass a 12-year-old girl, he said.
