Man from Klan rally sentenced in the assault of 4-year-old boy
Posted: 4/11/02
by Erin Johnson
Staff Writer
Jarod Lee Sparks, of Inver Grove Heights, was sentenced to 150 days in jail, 90 days of electronic home monitoring, five years probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for assaulting a 4-year-old minority boy in August following a Ku Klux Klan rally.
Sparks was also ordered to read selections from a list of books about diversity and report on them to his probation officer. The list includes ėAmerican Nightmare: The History of Jim Crow,î ėThe Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.,î ėSchindlerís Listî and ėRoots -the Saga of an American Familyî (see related article for complete list).
Sparks must read five of the 10 books on the list. The judge will allow other books to be substituted if they are agreed upon by Sparks and his probation officer, said Monica Jensen of the Dakota County Attorneyís Office.
Sparks, 25, was found guilty in January of bias-motivated harassment, harassment of a child and bias-motivated assault.
Sparks and Michael Pigg, who was sentenced in November, met at the Ku Klux Klan rally held at the state Capitol Aug. 25, 2001. After the rally the two men were seen pushing the 4-year-old Inver Grove Heights boy, who is biracial, off of his bike and using racial slurs. Sparks was also observed holding the boy a foot off the ground and asking him where ėall the other niggers were.î
The boy is the son of Sparksí fiancee. Sparks and the boyís mother were living together at the time of the incident, Jensen said.
Pigg pled guilty and was sentenced in November to 135 days in jail and 90 days of electronic home monitoring. He was also ordered to view ėTo Kill a Mockingbirdî and remove all hate/bias-related tattoos from his body. The book ėTo Kill a Mockingbirdî appears on Sparksí book list as well.
ėI am pleased that both individuals involved in this serious crime have been brought to justice,î said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom. ėThere is no excuse for bias-motivated conduct of this nature. To subject a little boy to racial harassment of any kind is unconscionable.î
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