2 years in racial graffiti case

EAST ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in the spray-painting of racial threats and epithets on an Illinois home where a black couple lived with a white friend.

A federal judge in East St. Louis ordered 25-year-old William Bowen to serve simultaneously terms of 25 months and one year for two felony counts linked to the graffiti in March 2003.

A co-defendant, 25-year-old Joe Brown, awaits sentencing after admitting he encouraged Bowen to spray paint the Collinsville home. Authorities say he hoped to scare away the home's residents.

Both Brown and Bowen are white.

Bowen had pleaded guilty in July to civil rights violations.

Brown will be sentenced in February.