A Compton man pleaded guilty Tuesday to throwing rocks and injuring a federal officer during a June immigration enforcement operation near a Home Depot store in Paramount.
Elpidio Reyna, 41, entered a plea to one federal count of “assault on a federal officer by deadly or dangerous weapon resulting in bodily injury,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Authorities said a federal officer was injured and a government vehicle damaged.
Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 7 in L.A. federal court.
Reyna was taken into custody July 23 at the U.S.-Mexico border in a negotiated surrender, the FBI stated.
According to his plea agreement, Reyna lit objects on fire in the middle of the street during the protest on Alondra Boulevard and threw rocks at a convoy of law enforcement vehicles occupied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.
In doing so, Reyna threw a rock at a government vehicle, causing glass to shatter, which injured an officer by cutting his forehead, according to the plea agreement.
“The FBI issued video and photographs taken of the assailant on June 7 and Reyna was identified shortly thereafter,” the FBI said in a statement when Reyna landed on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list.
“When agents attempted to arrest Reyna, he was not located and agents developed information confirming that he fled to Mexico,” according to the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.
Reyna was initially detained by authorities in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
After agreeing to surrender, Reyna was arrested by FBI agents at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego.
“This defendant could have easily killed a federal officer or innocent bystander,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “As he found out the hard way, violence against law enforcement is not constitutionally protected and will be met with swift justice. Those who engage in similar violence will be arrested, charged, and eventually convicted in a court of law.”