Trio charged with branding man with swastika

US prosecutors said they will pursue hate crime charges against three men accused of branding a swastika on a mentally challenged man’s arm using a heated metal clothes hanger.

Jesse Sanford, 24, William Hatch, 28, and Paul Beebe, 26, were charged in New Mexico with kidnapping, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and other felony charges. The men were jailed with bond set at $150,000 cash (€116,683).

“We’ll explore every conceivable available avenue in charging them with a hate crime, because what happened to the victim was so horribly wrong,” said chief deputy district attorney Sarah Weaver.