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Chicago-area man seen on video berating woman for Puerto Rico shirt convicted of hate crime

"You should be wearing the United States of America flag, not Puerto Rico," Timothy Trybus said in a video of the encounter at a Cook County forest preserve.
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A Chicago-area man who was seen on a video berating a woman for wearing a shirt displaying the Puerto Rican flag was found guilty of a hate crime.

Timothy Trybus, of the suburb of Des Plaines, was convicted Wednesday in a Cook County court over his tirade against Mia Irizarry at the Caldwell Woods forest preserve in Chicago in June 2018, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office.

In cellphone footage captured by Irizarry, Trybus repeatedly asks her if she is a U.S. citizen and when Irizarry tells him that she is, he chides her for wearing a shirt with the Puerto Rican flag.

Image: Timothy Trybus
Timothy Trybus is seen in this mug shot released by the Forest Preserves of Cook County.Forest Preserves of Cook County

"You should be wearing the United States of America flag, not Puerto Rico," he says.

At another point in the video, he tells her: "You're not going to change us. ... If you're an American citizen, you should not be wearing that shirt in America."

Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and its residents were granted citizenship in 1917.

During the encounter Trybus uses profanity and repeatedly approaches Irizarry, coming within inches of her face. She is heard repeatedly asking a nearby police officer for help.

Irizarry testified Tuesday and told the court that she feared for her safety during the incident with Trybus, NBC Chicago reported. She did not comment on his guilty verdict.

The state's attorney's office told NBC News that Trybus' bond was revoked, and he is scheduled to be sentenced next month. He faces probation to up to two to five years in prison.