A Chicago man has been sentenced to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to a hate crime in which he targeted Hispanic victims during the height of the city’s migrant crisis in late 2023.
Prosecutors said 39-year-old Levell Carter followed a 43-year-old woman as she walked home from a gas station in the 3900 block of West Roosevelt on November 15, 2023. The woman noticed that she was being followed and called her boyfriend, who came outside their Lawndale home to confront Carter.
That’s when Carter allegedly launched into a tirade, yelling anti-Mexican and anti-Venezuelan slurs. According to prosecutors, he accused Venezuelans of “getting the money” before shouting:
“You f****** Mexican, I am going to come and blow your house down.”
“Go back to your country, you f****** Mexican.”
“I’m going to come back to kill these m*****f****** Mexicans.”
As the boyfriend turned to head back inside, Carter aimed his car at him, forcing the man to leap out of the way, prosecutors said. Surveillance footage captured Carter’s license plate, leading to his arrest.
Carter pleaded guilty to one count of hate crime in exchange for a 20-month sentence from Judge Lakshmi Jha, according to court records. Prosecutors dropped aggravated assault and a second hate crime charge. With the state’s standard 50% sentence reduction and other credits, he is expected to be released in late November.
Court records show Carter has prior convictions in Illinois, including a stolen motor vehicle case in 2021 and an aggravated battery with a firearm in 2008.
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