{"id":50343,"date":"2022-07-14T17:48:40","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T00:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50343"},"modified":"2022-07-14T17:49:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T00:49:47","slug":"maryland-man-who-impersonated-a-federal-park-ranger-allegedly-pepper-sprayed-gay-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50343","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Man Who Impersonated a Federal Park Ranger Allegedly Pepper Sprayed Gay Men"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Michael Thomas Pruden, 48, with five counts of assault on federal land, one count of impersonating a federal officer, and a hate crimes sentencing enhancement, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege that Pruden assaulted four of the victims because of their perceived sexual orientation, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

.The indictment alleges that on five separate dates from 2018 to 2021, Pruden went after dark to Meridian Hill Park, aka Malcolm X Park, which is informally known in the Washington, D.C. community as a meeting place for men seeking consensual sex with other men, and assaulted five men with a chemical irritant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pruden is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Before spraying the men, Pruden pretended to be a Park Police officer, shined a flashlight in the victims\u2019 faces and gave the victims police-style directives, according to authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The indictment alleges that Pruden assaulted four of the victims because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pruden was arrested Thursday in Norfolk, Virginia. Pruden faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years for each assault count and a three-year statutory maximum sentence for impersonating a federal officer. <\/span><\/p>\n

The hate crimes sentencing enhancement increases the range of the potential sentence for the assault counts.<\/span><\/p>\n

This case was investigated by the U.S. Park Police and the FBI Washington Field Office.<\/span><\/p>\n

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Rebekah J. Bailey of the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Risa Berkower for the District of Columbia.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Michael Thomas Pruden, 48, with five counts of assault on federal land, one count of impersonating a federal officer, and a hate crimes sentencing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nMaryland Man Who Impersonated a Federal Park Ranger Allegedly Pepper Sprayed Gay Men<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Michael Thomas Pruden, 48, with five counts of assault on federal land, one count of impersonating a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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