A Mexican national who admitted throwing a lit Molotov cocktail towards law enforcement officers during a June protest in Paramount stemming from federal immigration enforcement operations was sentenced Friday to four years behind bars.
Emiliano Gálvez, 23, who prosecutors say is an undocumented immigrant living in Paramount, pleaded guilty in October in Los Angeles federal court to possession of an unregistered destructive device and civil disorder.
An affidavit filed with the complaint charging Gálvez states that he lit and threw a Molotov cocktail over a wall where Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies were engaging in crowd control activities — then ran away.
A crowd had assembled in the location earlier in the day near a staging area for federal agents who were preparing for immigration enforcement operations, prosecutors said.
“This defendant’s reckless behavior threatened the lives and safety of law enforcement officers and that of a lawful protester,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “My office remains steadfast in its efforts to prosecute and punish those who commit acts of violence against others.”
The Molotov cocktail Gálvez threw landed in a grassy area near the foot of a protestor in the crowd and nearly 15 feet from LASD deputies. Gálvez had never registered this Molotov cocktail, nor any destructive device, with the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. He then fled the area, authorities said.
Gálvez “threw an incendiary device capable of killing someone,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum.
“And his destructive device came far closer to injuring a civilian holding a sign, as opposed to (his) intended target — the sheriff’s deputies.”
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