Ohio teen sentenced in alleged noose attack

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio teenager accused of putting a noose around another teen’s neck has been sentenced to 10 days in jail.

The 18-year-old from central Ohio was sentenced Wednesday in the city’s juvenile court. He dropped his original plea of not guilty and pleaded no contest to ethnic intimidation. A charge of aggravated menacing charge was dropped as part of the plea deal.

Robert Cantu, 17, a Hispanic, says he was dragged from a sidewalk to a parking lot with a noose wrapped around his neck by a group of teenagers who shouted racial slurs at him in May 2008.

Cantu says the teenagers threatened to hang him before he was rescued by a bystander.

Cantu’s family says they plan to file a civil lawsuit against the city of Mount Vernon.