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Gay Man Forced To Drink Bleach, Has "Fag" Carved In His Arm, House Set On Fire, In Series Of Hate Crimes

Rick Jones

A gay Utah man has been brutally victimized in a series of hate crimes that seem designed to terrorize him and his family.

In April, 22-year-old Rick Jones of Delta, Utah, was attacked and knocked unconscious while closing his family's pizzeria, Grand Central Station.

“I remember waking up and I was lying on the floor,” he told  Q Salt Lake,. “Someone was on my chest and legs and they were trying to force me to drink bleach.”

When Jones regained consciousness again, an EMT was treating him for a concussion and for a wound—he had the words "Die Fag" carved into his arm.  Roughly $1,400 was stolen from the restaurant safe.

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But the attacks didn't stop: The following Thursday, Jones and his family woke up to find “Die Fag” spray-painted on their garage door.

Then, this past weekend—the same weekend as Utah Pride—Jones had a Molotav cocktail thrown through his bedroom window. “You’ll Die. Burn Fag” was spray-painted on his house.

Jones, who was able to put out the flames, says the family restaurant was also burglarized and vandalized the same day.

The Millard County Sheriff's Office describes the attacks as "the latest in a string of crimes perpetrated against the owners of this local business" and claims to be investigating "several different leads."

"So many things [in this situation] go toward somebody trying to get somebody in the gay community. All of the cases indicate that's what they're after, that's what they're mad at," said Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker, who classified the attacks as hate crimes. 

Related: High School Gay-Bashing Victim Charged With Disorderly Conduct

"In all of my years I can't remember anything like this ever happening before, so it's something we want to get a handle on as soon as we can."

Delta is a small town of less than 3,500 people, but The Jones are standing together and insist they won't be cowed by the homophobic attacks.

"When you attack any member of our family, you attack everybody here," Rick's mother, Terri, told KSL TV. "This is not just against my son, it is against every single one of us. We're not going to back down, we're not going to close the restaurant if we can keep from it. We're not going to move from Delta, we're not going to be afraid."

Photos: KSL TV

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