Eastern Michigan U. racist graffiti: Ex-student charged, did it for 'self-serving' re
Eastern Michigan U. racist graffiti: Ex-student charged, did it for 'self-serving' re
Eastern Michigan U. racist graffiti: Ex-student charged, did it for 'self-serving' reasons
David Jesse, Detroit Free PressPublished 3:53 p.m. ET Oct. 23, 2017 | Updated 6:23 p.m. ET Oct. 23, 2017
A 29-year-old former Eastern Michigan University student placed racist graffiti around the Ypsilanti school's campus last year not because he was politically motivated, the school's police chief said Monday.
"It was totally self-serving," Eastern Michigan University Chief of Police Robert Heighes told the media during a quick news conference. "It was not driven by politics. It was not driven by race."
Heighes would not elaborate more on the motive, but said no other person or groups were involved.
The suspect, identified as Eddie Curlin, is a former student at Eastern who attended from 2014 to early 2016. While at Eastern, he came to the attention of another law enforcement agency, Heighes said.
He is currently in custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections serving a 1-to-5-year sentence on an unrelated charge of receiving and concealing stolen property. He was sentenced in that case in Washtenaw County in August.
He had been in trouble before that. According to state records, he was sentenced in 2010 for possession of burglary tools, breaking and entering and resisting a police officer. He served 3 years 10 months in prison for those charges.
