A man admitted Wednesday that he lit a Molotov cocktail and threw it toward Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during protests against immigration crackdowns over the summer.
Emiliano Garduno Galvez, 23, who authorities said is a citizen of Mexico in the country illegally, pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing an unregistered destructive device and civil disorder tied to his actions the evening of June 7 in Paramount.
Galvez is set to be sentenced Jan. 30, and he faces up to 15 years in prison.
On the morning of June 7, Border Patrol agents were spotted gathering in Paramount, across the street from the Home Depot. Word quickly spread on social media. Passersby honked their horns. Soon, protesters arrived.
Already tensions were high, with federal officials raiding a retail and distribution warehouse in downtown L.A. the day before, arresting dozens of workers and a top union official.
According to the plea agreement, several people gathered near Hunsaker Avenue and Alondra Boulevard in Paramount and began amassing around personnel of federal agencies and later local law enforcement. People threw rocks or chunks of cinder blocks, lit objects on fire and set off fireworks in the direction of law enforcement, Galvez’s agreement states.
Authorities said the protest interfered with “the coordination of federal agencies’ personnel and preparation for immigration enforcement activities,” and also “obstructed, delayed, and adversely affected commerce.”
Specifically, according to the plea agreement, the Home Depot at the location had to close temporarily “and had products stolen during the civil disorder, including cinder blocks that were thrown at law enforcement.”
Galvez admitted he was in Paramount that evening and that he saw the sheriff’s deputies engaged in crowd control. As the deputies tried to disperse and move the crowd back, Galvez admitted in the plea agreement to going behind a stone wall, lighting the wick inside the Molotov cocktail and then throwing it over the wall toward where he had seen the deputies.
The Molotov cocktail landed in a grassy area near the foot of a protester and around 15 feet from the deputies, according to the plea agreement. Galvez admitted that he then ran from the area.
Galvez threw the Molotov cocktail “intending to obstruct, interfere with, and impede the LASD deputies who were lawfully engaged in performance of official duties,” according to the agreement.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
