A Ventura County man pleaded guilty to a felony criminal charge in a hate crime case.
Prosecutors say in May, Gerardo Rodrigo Vargas confronted an African-American man outside of an Oxnard supermarket. Vargas threatened the man and used racial slurs.
A store employee intervened, keeping the confrontation from becoming physical. The incident was captured by a store surveillance camera. It was apparently a random incident because Vargas didn’t know the victim. He was arrested at the scene.
The Oxnard man pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation.
Prosecutors expect Vargas to be sentenced to a year in jail, two years of probation, and be required to go through a rehabilitation program.
