Ringleader in Cortlandt cross burning gets jail time

WHITE PLAINS – The man who, along with a friend, lit a four foot cross on an African-American family’s front lawn, was sentenced Thursday in Westchester County Court to six months in the county jail, five years probation, 1,000 hours of community service, judgment order of restitution for damages and permanent orders of protection.

Christopher Hudak, 31, of Cortlandt, had pled guilty to criminal mischief in the third degree as a hate crime, aggravated harassment in the first degree, criminal mischief in the third degree and intimidating a witness in the third degree, all felonies, and arson in the fifth degree, a misdemeanor.

Hudak’s accomplice, Ryan Martin, 20, of Montrose, was sentenced on Tuesday to weekends in the county jail, five years probation, 300 hours of community service, judgment order of restitution for damages and permanent orders of protection.

Both men had been charged with the November 21, 2007 cross burning in the Town of Cortlandt. The two set the fire in retaliation for an incident that had occurred earlier in the day at school. The incident, an altercation, was between the sister of one of the defendants and a minor resident of the home.