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Teenager Charged For Vandalizing Home Of LGBTQ Advocate Pleads Guilty

The flag pole outside Jonathan Balash's Spencer home that was vandalized in April.
The flag pole outside Jonathan Balash's Spencer home that was vandalized in April.

One of two teenagers charged with vandalizing the home of a same-sex couple in southern Indiana will receive a suspended sentence after pleading guilty.

Zachary Crites and a juvenile were charged in April with stealing and damaging a rainbow Pride flag from the home of an LGBTQ rights advocate in Spencer.

The teenagers were charged with criminal mischief and thefts unrelated to the flag incident.

A lawyer representing Crites did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

“It was just really important that when things like this happen, that they're not swept under the rug and that there is a record of them. And that record will follow him now for the rest of his life,” says Jonathan Balash, whose home was attacked.

Balash is the director of Spencer Pride.

George Hale is a Multi-Media Journalist at Indiana Public Media. He previously worked as an Investigative Reporter for NPR’s northeast Texas member station KETR. Hale has reported from the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, Jordan and Egypt.