{"id":158373,"date":"2026-01-31T20:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/158373\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T20:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:54:07","slug":"man-sentenced-for-throwing-molotov-cocktail-at-deputies-during-protest-against-immigration-raids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/158373\/","title":{"rendered":"Man sentenced for throwing Molotov cocktail at deputies during protest against immigration raids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A man was sentenced four years in federal prison Friday after he admitted to lighting a Molotov cocktail<\/a> and throwing it at Los Angeles County sheriff\u2019s deputies during a protest last year against immigration raids. <\/p>\n

Emiliano Gardu\u00f1o G\u00e1lvez, 23, pleaded guilty in October to one count each of possessing an unregistered destructive device and obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder. Federal authorities said G\u00e1lvez is an immigrant from Mexico in the U.S. illegally, having entered more than a decade ago and staying beyond the time permitted in his visa. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis defendant\u2019s reckless behavior threatened the lives and safety of law enforcement officers and that of a lawful protester,\u201d Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. \u201cMy office remains steadfast in its efforts to prosecute and punish those who commit acts of violence against others.\u201d<\/p>\n

The events occurred in June, when Border Patrol agents convened near Home Depot in Paramount, drawing protesters. <\/p>\n

According to the U.S. attorney\u2019s office, the group threw objects like rocks and cinder block chunks at federal and local law enforcement officers, and set off fireworks. Authorities declared the protest an unlawful assembly. <\/p>\n

The U.S. attorney\u2019s office said G\u00e1lvez was hiding behind a stone wall when he lit and threw a Molotov cocktail toward sheriff\u2019s deputies, who were engaging in crowd control. The incendiary device landed in a grassy area near a protester\u2019s foot, about 15 feet from sheriff\u2019s deputies. G\u00e1lvez then fled the area.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors had argued in a sentencing memorandum for G\u00e1lvez to serve a longer sentence \u2014 more than seven years \u2014 because of the seriousness of his offenses. Video recordings appear to show that the flaming wick separated from the bottle after he threw it. <\/p>\n

\u201cDefendant endangered everyone \u2014 law enforcement and civilians in the area \u2014 and is lucky that, despite his actions, no one was injured,\u201d the prosecutors\u2019 sentencing memo said. <\/p>\n

G\u00e1lvez\u2019s federal public defenders asked for a more lenient sentence of three years, saying in a sentencing memo that he was \u201ccaught up in a historic social movement and under the influence of Brandy and nitrous oxide,\u201d and now \u201creadily admits and acknowledges how serious his actions were and the harm that could have ensued.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man was sentenced four years in federal prison Friday after he admitted to lighting a Molotov cocktail…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,167,21599,2641,77251,75156,3979,734,77252,1555,45338,346,2058,2637,5783,72],"class_list":["post-158373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-deputy","tag-federal-authority","tag-foot","tag-galvez","tag-grassy-area","tag-immigration-raid","tag-law-enforcement","tag-lawful-protester","tag-man","tag-molotov-cocktail","tag-office","tag-protest","tag-sheriff","tag-u-s-attorney","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}