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A white Illinois high schooler was sentenced to probation and community service on Wednesday (October 20) after listing a Black classmate on Craigslist under an ad labeled "slave for sale."
Prosecutors say that in 2019, the Naperville Central High school student posted a photo of a Black classmate onto the site and that in addition to listing the classmate as a "slave," the juvenile included a racial slur in the ad. As a result, the teen, who has not been publicly identified, was charged with two counts of federal hate crimes and one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
Tamara Wallace, the mother of the teen targeted in the ad told The Naperville Sun in 2019 that the two students used to be close friends and that her son was taunted for days after the ad surfaced.
"I'll buy you for a dollar," other kids would say in the hallways of the school, Wallace told the outlet at the time.
"He didn't know what was going on," she added. "He was the butt of jokes for days."
The teen who made the ad was sentenced on Wednesday (October 20) to two years of probation and must complete 100 hours of community service. The judge in the case also ordered the high schooler to complete any counseling deemed necessary.
"Hate crimes have no place in a civilized society and will not be tolerated, regardless of the accused's age," Illinois State Attorney Robert B. Berlin said in a statement to NBC News.
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