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Tag: cinder block

  • Man pleads guilty to throwing Molotov cocktail at deputies during L.A. protest

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    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.

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    Brittny Mejia

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  • Oregon man found guilty after police say he held a woman hostage in a cinder block dungeon

    Oregon man found guilty after police say he held a woman hostage in a cinder block dungeon

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    Oregon man found guilty after police say he held a woman hostage in a cinder block dungeon

    An Oregon man has been found guilty on kidnapping, sex crimes and weapons charges after holding a woman captive in a makeshift prison in his garage, according to federal officials.Negasi Zuberi, 30, was found guilty on Friday of kidnapping, transporting a victim for criminal sexual activity, and illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.Zuberi posed as a police officer and used a Taser and handcuffs to detain one victim in the backseat of his car in July 2023 in Seattle, according to the news release. He then drove her over 400 miles to his home in Klamath Falls, “stopping along the way to sexually assault her,” the release says.At his home, Zuberi moved the victim into a “cell he had constructed in his garage,” the Justice Department release says.“The woman repeatedly banged on the cell door until it broke open and she escaped,” the news release says. “The victim retrieved a handgun from Zuberi’s vehicle, fled his garage, and flagged down a passing motorist who called 911.”Police arrested Zuberi the next day in Reno, Nevada.The July incident wasn’t the first time Zuberi had kidnapped a victim, according to authorities: During the course of their investigation, federal agents found that about six weeks before, he had kidnapped and sexually assaulted another victim.“While being held by Zuberi, his first victim observed stacked cinder blocks in his garage that he later used to construct the cell where he detained his second victim,” the release says.The kidnapping charges are punishable by up to life in prison, according to the release.The jury deliberated for just over four hours before returning a verdict, according to KDRV.As part of his closing arguments, Zuberi’s defense attorney, Michael Berthoff, questioned what he framed as discrepancies in the two victims’ testimonies. “This case is about nothing other than the credibility of” the victims, he said, according to KDRV.Assistant U.S. Attorney for Oregon Nathan Lichvarcik, alternately, showed photos of one victim’s injuries.“The doctor at the ER knew it when he saw it; somebody hit her… those are the marks of power, control and forcible domination,” he said, according to KDVR. “Those are the marks of rape.”

    MEDFORD, Ore. —

    An Oregon man has been found guilty on kidnapping, sex crimes and weapons charges after holding a woman captive in a makeshift prison in his garage, according to federal officials.

    Negasi Zuberi, 30, was found guilty on Friday of kidnapping, transporting a victim for criminal sexual activity, and illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

    Zuberi posed as a police officer and used a Taser and handcuffs to detain one victim in the backseat of his car in July 2023 in Seattle, according to the news release. He then drove her over 400 miles to his home in Klamath Falls, “stopping along the way to sexually assault her,” the release says.

    At his home, Zuberi moved the victim into a “cell he had constructed in his garage,” the Justice Department release says.

    “The woman repeatedly banged on the cell door until it broke open and she escaped,” the news release says. “The victim retrieved a handgun from Zuberi’s vehicle, fled his garage, and flagged down a passing motorist who called 911.”

    Police arrested Zuberi the next day in Reno, Nevada.

    The July incident wasn’t the first time Zuberi had kidnapped a victim, according to authorities: During the course of their investigation, federal agents found that about six weeks before, he had kidnapped and sexually assaulted another victim.

    “While being held by Zuberi, his first victim observed stacked cinder blocks in his garage that he later used to construct the cell where he detained his second victim,” the release says.

    The kidnapping charges are punishable by up to life in prison, according to the release.

    The jury deliberated for just over four hours before returning a verdict, according to KDRV.

    As part of his closing arguments, Zuberi’s defense attorney, Michael Berthoff, questioned what he framed as discrepancies in the two victims’ testimonies. “This case is about nothing other than the credibility of” the victims, he said, according to KDRV.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney for Oregon Nathan Lichvarcik, alternately, showed photos of one victim’s injuries.

    “The doctor at the ER knew it when he saw it; somebody hit her… those are the marks of power, control and forcible domination,” he said, according to KDVR. “Those are the marks of rape.”

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