Man pleads guilty in cross burning case

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - A northern Indiana man has agreed to plead guilty to charges stemming from a 2007 cross burning outside the home of his white niece and her black boyfriend.

Bruce Mikulyuk, 50, of Mishawaka will be sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison if a federal judge accepts the plea agreement he reached with prosecutors.

Mikulyuk admits in court documents that he burned the cross at the Mishawaka home, then returned with a knife and threatened the black man.

The woman involved, 28-year-old Trisha Mikulyuk, said Bruce Mikulyuk is her uncle and that she never wanted him to face criminal charges.

She told the South Bend Tribune that her uncle is not a racist and that she believed he threatened her boyfriend because he had not been paying child support.