By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

A second Crystal Lake girl was cleared last week of a hate crime charge stemming from her helping to circulate fliers at her school depicting two male classmates kissing and containing text using a derogatory term for gays.

The 16-year-old, a student at Crystal Lake South High School, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The hate crime charges and an unrelated marijuana possession charge were dropped in exchange.

Police were called to the high school May 11 after the girl and a female friend distributed the fliers in the school’s parking lot. The friend pleaded guilty in a similar deal in June.

The girl who pleaded guilty last week spent 18 days in a Kane County juvenile facility, then was released to home detention. According to the Chicago Tribune, she also was ordered to attend a drug and alcohol evaluation program.

The student will be sentenced September 13. McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Windon told the Tribune that she faces penalties ranging from probation to a two-year term in a juvenile facility, but that he may recommend one to two years of probation.

The other student was scheduled to be sentenced this week.