PASCO COUNTY, FL (WFLA) – A Port Richey man has been found guilty of setting a cross on fire in an interracial couple’s yard.

On Wednesday the U.S. Department of Justice sentenced Pascual Carlos Pietri, 53, after an FBI investigation, to 37 months in prison. He pleaded guilty on June 30, 2015 to conspiring with others to threaten, intimidate and interfere with a interracial couple’s enjoyment of their housing rights.

“Those who violently threaten others because of racial differences tear at the very fabric of our diverse American society,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta.

Court documents reveal that Pietri was living in a largely white community in Port Richey. Once an African-American couple moved in next door to him, Pietri heard other neighbors making racial slurs about the couple. On Halloween evening, Pietri spent the evening at a neighbor’s party when him and several other attendees decided to burn a cross in the couple’s yard to intimidate them.

The documents also state that Pietri, along with his co-conspirators, made a wooden cross and poured gasoline on it. They then took it to the couple’s house, and set it ablaze after propping it up against their mailbox.THE STORIES OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON: