An African-American Baptist minister from Chesterfield County, Virginia was sentenced to two years in prison this week after admitting he staged a “hate crime” at his own home because he could no longer afford to pay rent. 41-year-old Olander D. Cuthrell confessed to spray-painting racial slurs on the side of his house and setting his porch on fire.

According the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Cuthrell told the judge in the case that he was “ashamed and embarrassed” for pouring gasoline onto his family’s front porch and lighting it ablaze. He also spray-painted the “n-word” on two sides of his rented home, and set his car on fire outside on the street.

Cuthrell claimed he had been the victim of a racially-based attack but because a suspect in the investigation days after it began. “It was the most irrational decision that I made in my life,” he told the judge. “I can’t say just how bad I hate it.”

Watch video below, via CBS-6/ABC-8:

[photo via screengrab]

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