Deputies: Florida gay teen target of hate crime in Pace

In the early morning hours of Feb. 3, Jesse Jeffers, 18, was pulling up to his mobile home trailer in Pace when his boyfriend told him to look up. Spray paint covered much of the front of his Charles Court home. But it wasn’t random lines and symbols — swastikas and anti-gay slurs were painted in red on the white surface. The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office has deemed the vandalism a hate crime because it targets Jeffers’ sexual orientation. Only a few hate-crime cases are reported each year in Santa Rosa County, sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Haines said. The vandals spray-painted a pair of women’s breasts on the trailer’s exterior. Near the door, several derogatory words were spelled out, along with the phrase “God don’t love you,” with a heart taking the place of the word “love.” Inside, his drapes, fish tank and front room were also tagged. A large swastika was painted on his ceiling