Federal prosecutors accuse a woman of throwing a Molotov cocktail onto the back porch of her Venezuelan neighbors’ home on the city’s Northwest Side in March 2024, according to court records.
Cook County records show that Ana Hernandez, 69, was indicted on one count of aggravated arson and one count of hate crime in April 2024.
A document filed Monday in U.S. District Court alleges that Hernandez, a Logan Square resident at the time, threw the explosive in an attempt “to injure, intimidate and interfere” with the home’s occupants because of “their race, color and national origin.” The targets of the alleged attack are both Venezuelan, according to the charges.
Hernandez was captured on video throwing the explosive onto the back porch of a first-floor apartment on the 3400 block of West Armitage Avenue, according to an arrest report dated April 10. Hernandez and one of the victims had been neighbors for about 10 years, according to the report.
According to indictment paperwork, Hernandez also left a note on the car of an alleged victim car that “alarmed and disturbed” the victim. Cook County Judge William Fahy ordered her released pending trial on the condition that she not return to the block where the alleged attack took place.
Court records show Cook County Judge Steven Watkins in December allowed Hernandez to return briefly to her apartment for the purpose of moving.
Hernandez is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 15, federal court records show, and is set to appear Tuesday morning before Watkins. Her lawyer declined to comment.