Plano woman pleads guilty to 4 hate crimes after racist attack caught on video

PLAN – A woman went viral for racist confrontation with four women in a Plano parking lot pleaded guilty to hate crimes.

In August 2022, four friends were leaving Sixty Vines when they heard Esmeralda Upton, 59, making racist comments.

One friend started recording on her cell phone and another called 911. Then the incident turned physical. Three women were attacked and a fourth was threatened.

CBS News Texas spoke with the victims shortly after the incident..

“I feel extremely humiliated by what could have happened in a place like this,” said Bidisha Rubra.

“We absolutely want justice to be done,” said Rani Banerjee.

Following a joint state and federal investigation, Upton pleaded guilty to four hate crime charges related to the incident.

Last Friday, she was found guilty of three misdemeanor counts of assault and one misdemeanor of making a terroristic threat.

“Minor assault charges are not uncommon, but it is very rare to see an increase in hate crimes,” Collin County Prosecutor Greg Willis said.

Willis said the case was resolved through an agreed plea, so Upton did not testify. The women were able to make their victim impact statement.

“As for the victims, they talked about how some of them felt anxiety when they were in open spaces because of what had happened to them,” Willis said. “They were very resilient. I’m very proud of each of our victims and how they coped.”

Upton was sentenced to 40 days in the Collin County Jail for each case. Time will be served concurrently. She was also sentenced to two years of community supervision probation and fined $500 on each count.

A separate civil case is still pending.