The College Fix

ANALYSIS: Sergio Delgado is listed as ‘white’ on court documents, but public information suggests he is Latino

At least one racial slur suspect at the University of Maryland is likely Hispanic, according to public info.

University of Maryland police refused to provide basic information on two individuals charged in connection with racial slurs left in a residence hall.

Hayden Pritchard and Sergio Delgado were charged by the Big Ten university police, according to an announcement Tuesday. Police charged Pritchard with property damage targeting someone’s race or religion and trespassing. Law enforcement charged Delgado with trespassing.

But the taxpayer-funded police department refused to tell The College Fix the race of the suspects, what specific slurs were written, and answer other basic questions about the status of prosecution.

“Brief details of the investigation and charges are listed in the press release. For affiliation status, you will need to contact the University,” Public Information Officer Rosanne Hoaas told The Fix via email yesterday.

“And copies of the charging documents can be requested thru the courts,” Hoaas, who is also an “LGBTQ+ Liaison Officer,” told The Fix.

Both Pritchard and Delgado are listed as “white” in the Maryland court database.

But so are individuals named “Jose Esquivel,” “Alejandro Esquivel,” and “Santiago Ramirez Garcia.” Baldwin Park, California, where Delgado is from, is also 75 percent Hispanic and 20 percent Asian. The Fix reviewed dozens of criminal suspects in the Maryland Judiciary Case Search with clearly Hispanic last names, but all were labeled as “Black” or “White.”

Other individuals who appear to be related to Delgado have Hispanic sounding last names. At least one of those individuals also appears to look Hispanic.

The pair were accused of the crimes less than a year after the reported incidents.

“On April 29, 2023, at approximately 9:18 a.m., officers responded to La Plata Hall for a hate bias incident,” UMD police stated.

“Resident Life staff found racial slurs against the Black community inside the residence hall on the eighth floor,” according to a news release. “At approximately 1:41 p.m., that same day, officers returned to La Plata Hall for additional racial slurs that were found on the eighth and ninth floor.”

The summons were issued on Feb. 8.

A “racial slur” was also discovered in the same building and floor on May 2. Campus police did not address a question about the suspects in that incident.

Other hate incidents at the university have turned out to be perpetrated not by white supremacists, but by black individuals.

The university accused a black former employee of spray painting a swastika on campus in 2017.

UMD accused a different black former employee of writing “racially charged writings” in 2018.

The university has invested heavily in “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programming in the past years, including an “anti-black racism minor” (with only ten students enrolled so far).

The school also offers a minor in “creative placemaking,” which will teach students to make protest art.

It also hosted a “Black Health Week” last November.

MORE: There were 19 campus hate crime hoaxes in 2023

IMAGE: University of Maryland Police

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