San Diego

A 22-year-old San Diego man was sentenced Monday to three years in state prison for committing a racially motivated beating of a Pacific Islander man he mistook for being Hispanic.

Michael DiPaolo is the last of three defendants to be sentenced for the Oct. 21, 1989, beating of Eric Vaerga, 18, in Mission Beach.

San Diego Superior Court Judge William Mudd also imposed a $500 fine.

DiPaolo’s attorney, Gary Bloch, said DiPaolo had disassociated himself from the skinhead movement and urged that his client be placed on probation.

Sentenced by Mudd to a longer term on March 28 was co- defendant, Michael Mann, 21, who received a six-year prison sentence. Mann also had a previous conviction for beating a Vietnamese person because of his race.

Another co-defendant, Steven Kuntz, 20, of San Diego, is serving a one-year jail term.

Vaerga suffered a concussion, a fractured jaw, facial cuts and bruises, and dislocated ankle from being hit and kicked by the defendant’s steel-toed boots. White supremacy comments were yelled by the defendants during the attack.

DiPaolo pleaded guilty to felony assault and a civil rights violation on Feb. 13. His prior criminal history included a robbery charge in which the victim was struck with a flashlight and had his wallet taken in January, 1989.