CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — A Lewis County man who was arrested last year after allegedly shooting a paintball gun at a black man has been sentenced on a federal charge of obstructing justice by tampering with a witness.

Troy Pertuset, 37, of Jane Lew, was arrested and charged with committing a hate crime in November 2022 after a report that a car was stopped on Center Avenue in Weston and its occupants were “yelling racial slurs” and that he “shot a paintball gun from the car” and struck a black man in the chest, according to a criminal complaint filed at the time.

Now the United States Department of Justice said that while Pertuset was in custody after that arrest, he called a witness and asked that the person take the blame for firing the paintball gun.

Pertuset was sentenced to 1 year and nine months in federal prison for the obstruction charge.