Police Department: Bremerton man charged with hate crime, accused of tying noose around teen's neck.

 by Lynnanne Nguyen, 

KOMO News Reporter

Thu, October 24th 2024 at 6:11 PM

Updated Fri, October 25th 2024 at 10:58 AM

komo news.com

A Bremerton man is being charged with a hate crime after allegedly assaulting a young teen because of his sexual orientation.

Investigators say 38-year-old Joseph Sweeney tied a noose around the teen’s neck, asking him if he was gay.

Sweeney is now in custody at the Kitsap County jail being held on $50,000 bond and facing charges for a hate crime and assault. Sweeney’s son had a friend over to the house on Oct. 21, and investigators say he assaulted both his son and his son’s friend.

Court records detail the disturbing allegations accusing Sweeney of tying and tightening a noose around the 14-year-old boy’s neck. Court documents state Sweeney allegedly asked the teen if he was gay, and the teen replied, "Yes, is it a crime to be gay in this house?"

But family members and witnesses who say they were home the night of the alleged assault believe the incident has largely been a misunderstanding.

“All of it’s lies because there was no hate crime, there was never a hate crime,” Michelle Espinosa, Sweeney’s girlfriend, said. “No one showed any distress of, you know, his bad humor that he was doing. To me, I don’t even think it was bad humor because it seemed all innocent and playful like he could have come to any four adults that were in the house.”

Espinosa told KOMO News there were four adults home at the time, including herself, the mother of Sweeney’s children, and her husband, and the kids were all playing around as they normally do.

“No distress, just heard them all playing, laughing, having a good time,” Ally Toliver, who is the mother of Sweeney’s children, said. “The rope thing, the boys were playing with it together before Joe got involved, bad humor, it wasn’t a hate crime, he wasn’t hurting or trying to hurt him.”

According to court documents, Sweeney also made inappropriate jokes, calling the victim “a princess,” and recorded the two boys on his cell phone “telling them to kiss each other in a possible attempt to humiliate them.” Investigators also say Sweeney chased his son around the house and lassoed him around his chest.

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