A student at UC Riverside who was seen in a viral video taking another students red Make America Great Again hat could be sentenced to up to a year in the clink after being charged with misdemeanor grand theft.
The complaint against Edith Macias was filed Nov. 3 by the Superior Court of California County Riverside, reports NBC 4. The statute the defendant has been charged under says that grand theft applies when property is taken from someone’s body and carries a maximum sentence of a year in county jail.
The video was posted in September by UCR student Matthew Lawrence Vitale, who The Sun identified as vice president of the College Republicans at the college. It shows him following Edith “Chata” Macias to an admin office where the two confront each other.
“This represents genocide,” Macias proclaims. Vitale replies with a freedom of speech argument.
Macias also posted a video on Facebook, that has since been deleted, in which she ways, “You feel safe cuz you got the cops and politicians on your side. You’re not safe… just saying. We need to make racists scared.”
Macias eventually gave up the hat to school officials, who gave it to Vitale.
“People like this are what universities across America are putting out into this world,” Vitale said in another Facebook post.
Macias’ next court date is scheduled for March 1, 2018.
