Facebook Live Torture Case: Last Defendant Gets 7 Years In Prison

CHICAGO, IL — Tesfaye Cooper, the remaining defendant involved in the torture of a mentally challenged Crystal Lake man that was live-streamed on Facebook in 2017, was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday, the Chicago Tribune reports. Cooper, 20, of Chicago, had pleaded guilty to a hate crime and aggravated kidnapping two weeks ago, and he had no previous convictions.

Cook County Judge William Hooks had delayed Cooper's sentencing in order to allow his lawyer to prepare a case for leniency. During the hearing Thursday, July 26, Cooper again apologized to the victim's family, repeating sentiments he had shared in court during his plea hearing July 12, according to the Tribune.

Cooper was one of four people arrested and accused of tying up the then-18-year-old victim, who is white, with duct tape before beating and tormenting him for hours on Jan. 3, 2017, in an apartment on Chicago's West Side. The other defendants, who are black, included Jordan Hill, of Carpentersville; and sisters Brittany and Tanishia Covington, both of Chicago. All four initially pleaded not guilty in the case.

The Covingtons accepted separate plea deals, and like Cooper, pleaded guilty to a hate crime and aggravated kidnapping. Brittany was given probation, while Tanishia was sentenced to three years in prison.

But Brittany was taken into custody in April after allegedly violating her parole by accessing Facebook on her phone.

More Patch Coverage:

• 4 Arrested in Binding, Torturing of Mentally Challenged Man: Police
• Judge To Facebook Live Torture Case Defendants: 'Where Is Your Sense Of Decency?'
• Facebook Live Torture Case Defendants Plead Not Guilty
• Bail Set For All 4 Defendants In Facebook Live Torture Case
• Defendant Brittany Covington Takes Plea Deal In Hate Crime
• Defendant Jordan Hill Charged In Jail Fight
• Hill Rejects Plea Deal
• Defendant Tanishia Covington Gets 3 Years In Plea Deal
• Brittany Covington Jailed Over Social Media
• Hill Sentenced To 8 Years In Prison
• Final Defendant Tesfaye Cooper Pleads Guilty

Earlier this month, Hill pleaded guilty to the same charges. He was sentenced to eight years in prison as part of a deal he had originally rejected in March.

According to authorities, Hill was accused of using a stolen van to pick up the victim at a Streamwood McDonald's on Dec. 31, 2017, and then spending the next two days driving around Chicago's West Side. Eventually, Hill and the victim, who knew one another after attending school together in Aurora, ended up at an apartment in the 3300 block of West Lexington Avenue, where the Covingtons lived.

While captive, the victim had his clothes and hair cut and was forced to drink water from a toilet bowl by the defendants. The defendants can be heard shouting, "F--- Donald Trump!" and "F--- white people!" in the video that captured the brutal incident, which was streamed live on Facebook.

The victim was able to escape his tormentors when another tenant in the apartment building complained about the noise being made. Chicago police officers responding to the complaint saw the victim walking outside — hurt, confused and dressed in an inside-out tank top worn backwards — and an investigation into the incident was started, leading to the defendants' arrests.

More via the Chicago Tribune

Tesfaye Cooper (Photo via Cook County Sheriff's Office)