Edward Mathews of Mount Laurel, N.J. showed his racist stripes in 2021, when he harassed and threatened his neighbors. Now his stripes will be of the prison variety.
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NBC Philadelphia reports that Mathews, 47, received an 8-year sentence Friday for harassing and using racial slurs against his neighbors. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to four counts of bias intimidation and possession of a controlled and dangerous substance with intent to distribute.
Matthews’ 2021 racist rant prompted a neighborhood resident to file a harassment complaint against him. When an officer responded, he found Matthews using racial slurs during a verbal altercation with four residents. He told the officer to “go talk to the n*****s” and “tell them about me.”
He also yelled to onlookers, “Did you know monkeys live here?” and repeatedly called the HOA president, who is Black, and the HOA president’s wife, who is white, “f*****g n*****s,” according to an affidavit.
In the video, the officer tells Mathews to leave and go home more than once before he actually followed instructions.
A subsequent investigation found a pattern of abuse, including stalking, threatening notes left on a car, feces smeared on windows and fences, and ball bearings fired through a sling shot.
“It’s just unacceptable that this guy could be around here for four years terrorizing people of color. Terrorizing people period,” said community activist Gary Frazier to police at the time of their response.
According to the Mt. Laurel police Chief Judy Lynn Schiavone, the complaint wasn’t the first time the deparment had been called about Mathews. Neighbors said they’d reported his racist and harassing behavior to police for years to no avail. It was when ring camera videos of Mathews calling a Black neighbor a “monkey” and the N-word while thumping his chest and appearing to spit in the man’s face went viral on Facebook that law enforcement was able to collect enough evidence to take action.
Mathews’ sentence was slow to happen, but his new change of address and attire couldn’t have happened to a nicer fellow. Bless his heart.
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