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Tag: molotov cocktail

  • Man sentenced for throwing Molotov cocktail at deputies during protest against immigration raids

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    A man was sentenced four years in federal prison Friday after he admitted to lighting a Molotov cocktail and throwing it at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during a protest last year against immigration raids.

    Emiliano Garduño Gálvez, 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 Gálvez 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.

    “This defendant’s reckless behavior threatened the lives and safety of law enforcement officers and that of a lawful protester,” Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. “My office remains steadfast in its efforts to prosecute and punish those who commit acts of violence against others.”

    The events occurred in June, when Border Patrol agents convened near Home Depot in Paramount, drawing protesters.

    According to the U.S. attorney’s 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.

    The U.S. attorney’s office said Gálvez was hiding behind a stone wall when he lit and threw a Molotov cocktail toward sheriff’s deputies, who were engaging in crowd control. The incendiary device landed in a grassy area near a protester’s foot, about 15 feet from sheriff’s deputies. Gálvez then fled the area.

    Federal prosecutors had argued in a sentencing memorandum for Gálvez to serve a longer sentence — more than seven years — because of the seriousness of his offenses. Video recordings appear to show that the flaming wick separated from the bottle after he threw it.

    “Defendant endangered everyone — law enforcement and civilians in the area — and is lucky that, despite his actions, no one was injured,” the prosecutors’ sentencing memo said.

    Gálvez’s federal public defenders asked for a more lenient sentence of three years, saying in a sentencing memo that he was “caught up in a historic social movement and under the influence of Brandy and nitrous oxide,” and now “readily admits and acknowledges how serious his actions were and the harm that could have ensued.”

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    Alene Tchekmedyian

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  • 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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  • 22-year-old sentenced to six years for firebombing Planned Parenthood in Costa Mesa

    22-year-old sentenced to six years for firebombing Planned Parenthood in Costa Mesa

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    A 22-year-old man will spend six years in prison for his role in the 2022 firebombing of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa, closing a case that involved two other defendants.

    Tibet Ergul pleaded guilty in February to federal charges of conspiracy to damage an energy facility and intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility. He was one of three men arrested in connection with the crime.

    Ergul’s co-defendants, Xavier Batten of Brooksville, Fla., and Chance Brannon of San Juan Capistrano, were recently sentenced to three and a half years and nine years, respectively.

    Ergul’s attorney, Sheila Mojtehedi, said her client “looks forward to closing this chapter and moving on with his life.”

    In a letter to U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney, Ergul apologized for his actions and cited mental health issues, along with other struggles. He added that he was “keen to please” his old friend, Brannon, leading him to agree to attack the clinic.

    “I had just spent a long period of time alone, feeling as if l did not belong to any causes, nor groups; I believed that if I did not go along with satisfying my friend’s wishes and, in a way earn his respect, I would lose another relationship that I had cultivated and end up lonelier than I had been before,” Ergul wrote.

    According Ergul’s plea agreement, on the morning of March 13, 2022, he and Brannon — disguised in dark clothing, hoods, masks and gloves — ignited a Molotov cocktail and threw it at the clinic’s entrance.

    The facility was forced to temporarily close and staff had to reschedule around 30 appointments.

    “This defendant’s hatred toward others led him to plotting and carrying out violence,” said U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada. “We will not allow bigoted intolerance to divide us. My office will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute crimes motivated by hate in order to keep our community safe.”

    Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, Ergul and Brannon planned to use a second Molotov cocktail to damage another Planned Parenthood clinic, but did not follow through with it after seeing law enforcement near their intended target, Ergul’s plea agreement states.

    Ergul then conspired with others, including Brannon, to use firearms or a Molotov cocktail to damage a Southern California Edison electrical substation, according to the agreement.

    The third man, Batten, pleaded guilty to teaching the others how to assemble the Molotov cocktail used in the attack.

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    Brittny Mejia

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  • O.C. man pleads guilty to firebombing Planned Parenthood clinic, plotting other attacks

    O.C. man pleads guilty to firebombing Planned Parenthood clinic, plotting other attacks

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    An Orange County man has pleaded guilty to firebombing a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa as well as plotting similar attacks elsewhere in Southern California, according to authorities.

    Chance Brannon, 24, of San Juan Capistrano pleaded guilty Thursday to four federal charges: malicious destruction of property by fire and explosives, possessing an unregistered destructive device, intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility, and conspiracy.

    Brannon, who at the time was an active duty U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, was one of three suspects arrested in connection with the 2022 attack.

    The other two defendants, Tibet Ergul, 22, of Irvine and Xavier Batten, 21, of Brooksville, Fla., have pleaded not guilty to their charges and are scheduled to go to trial in March.

    According to Brannon’s plea agreement, the three made plans in February and March 2022 to use a Molotov cocktail against various targets, including the office of the Anti-Defamation League in San Diego. The trio decided to target the Planned Parenthood in Costa Mesa to deter doctors and scare pregnant women from seeking abortions, prosecutors said.

    The plea agreement states Brannon and Ergul threw the incendiary weapon at the clinic on the morning of March 13, 2022. It exploded at the front entrance, leaving noticeable damage.

    Later that year and into 2023, authorities say Brannon conspired to seek out additional targets, including a second Planned Parenthood clinic and the Dodgers’ LGBTQ+ Pride Night. He also discussed plans to start a “race war” by damaging a utility substation to disrupt Orange County’s power grid, according to the plea agreement.

    “This defendant exemplifies the insidious danger posed by domestic extremism,” U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said in a statement.

    Brannon was arrested in June and has remained in federal custody since.

    “Chance is a young man who has made mistakes. He is looking forward to closing out this chapter in his life,” his attorney, Kate Corrigan, wrote in an email.

    Brannon is due to be sentenced on April 15. He faces a maximum sentence of 51 years in prison.

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    Jeremy Childs

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