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Updated 04/10/2010 10:08 AM

Four Teens Charged With Alleged Staten Island Bias Attack

By: Tetiana Anderson

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Four Staten Island teenagers are in police custody in connection with an alleged bias attack in the Port Richmond neighborhood.

Rolston Hopson, William Marcano and Tyrone Goodman, all age 17, were taken into custody at the 120th Precinct Thursday night and arrested Friday morning.

Police withheld the identity of the fourth suspect, who is a 15-year-old boy.

They are all awaiting arraignment on numerous charges, including robbery as a hate crime, assault as a hate crime, gang assault, aggravated harassment and criminal possession of a weapon.

Sources said the suspects made statements implicating themselves in the attack on Rodolfo Olmedo.

The 26-year-old Mexican was assaulted as he walked home from work around 4:30 a.m. Monday.

Investigators say the group beat Olmedo with a baseball bat and robbed him of his wallet and cell phone, while yelling anti-Mexican slurs. Surveillance video of the beating that was captured by a grocery store camera, seen above, was released Friday.

"He was the only person on the street at the time, so the burden on us is to prove that he was selected because of his ethnicity, and not just because he was going to be a robbery victim," said Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan.

Four Teens Charged With Alleged Staten Island Bias Attack
NYPD officials said they were able to catch the suspects, seen right, based on a tip from an informant who saw the surveillance video of the incident broadcast on NY1.

Neighbors said Olmedo was released from the hospital on Friday. North Shore Councilwoman Debi Rose said Olmedo wants to move from the area because he fears for his safety and the safety of his family.

Community leaders held a news conference in St. George Friday morning to denounce the attack.

"This type of a crime does not represent Staten Island. It does not represent New York," said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. "It represents the narrow minds of a few hateful bigots."

Three of the suspects are African-American and the other suspect is Hispanic, like the victim, according to police.

"We would not tolerate these types of accounts," said Ruben Beltran, consul general of Mexico. "We will not let these types of attacks towards immigrants go, not to Mexican immigrants, not any immigrants."

The three 17-year-old suspects face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the hate crime.

It is not the first time the people of Port Richmond have become the targets of bias crimes.

Back in August 2008, police say Joseph Papapietro drove his truck into store fronts along Port Richmond Avenue because he was angry at Mexicans living in the community.