Police are holding a man in the Lancaster County Prison on $1 million bail for a vicious hate crime they say he committed against three elderly Mennonite women. He now faces many charges, including ethnic intimidation.
Lancaster’s District Attorney is calling this the most serious and heinous crime he has seen that has not ended in a homicide.
“You know, I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and to say that I’m shocked by this, that we are all shocked by this, is an understatement,” explained Lancaster County DA Craig Stedman.
It started around 9:00 Friday morning, when police this man Dereck Holt tricked his way into a home on Indiantown Road in Clay Township by posing as an insurance salesman. Once inside, he attacked the two elderly women who let him in.
Police say he bound them with tape, hit them with a stun gun and repeatedly punched and kicked them. When a third elderly woman arrived, he did the same to her. This lasted for three hours.
But, before leaving the victims bound and beaten, he ransacked the home, taking valuables and dumping household chemicals all over it. The three elderly sisters, between 84 and 90, would lie there for four hours until someone found them.
“We are extremely fortunate and thankful that we are not talking about three counts of homicide,” Stedman added.
Holt is a former member of the Mennonite church. During the attack, police say he spoke in a rage to the elderly women about the Mennonite faith while reading from one of the victim’s bibles and then desecrating it.
“We have to do everything in our power to make sure that he suffers the consequences for the choices that he made during these terrible crimes,” Stedman concluded.
The three women remain hospitalized. During the seven hour ordeal, one suffered a heart attack, one had a broken shoulder and the other had bleeding of the brain.
They are expected to live. Police say Holt did admit to the charges.
Lancaster’s District Attorney is calling this the most serious and heinous crime he has seen that has not ended in a homicide.
“You know, I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and to say that I’m shocked by this, that we are all shocked by this, is an understatement,” explained Lancaster County DA Craig Stedman.
It started around 9:00 Friday morning, when police this man Dereck Holt tricked his way into a home on Indiantown Road in Clay Township by posing as an insurance salesman. Once inside, he attacked the two elderly women who let him in.
Police say he bound them with tape, hit them with a stun gun and repeatedly punched and kicked them. When a third elderly woman arrived, he did the same to her. This lasted for three hours.
But, before leaving the victims bound and beaten, he ransacked the home, taking valuables and dumping household chemicals all over it. The three elderly sisters, between 84 and 90, would lie there for four hours until someone found them.
“We are extremely fortunate and thankful that we are not talking about three counts of homicide,” Stedman added.
Holt is a former member of the Mennonite church. During the attack, police say he spoke in a rage to the elderly women about the Mennonite faith while reading from one of the victim’s bibles and then desecrating it.
“We have to do everything in our power to make sure that he suffers the consequences for the choices that he made during these terrible crimes,” Stedman concluded.
The three women remain hospitalized. During the seven hour ordeal, one suffered a heart attack, one had a broken shoulder and the other had bleeding of the brain.
They are expected to live. Police say Holt did admit to the charges.