A Los Angeles County man was sentenced Wednesday to two years, six months behind bars for possessing a Molotov cocktail during an anti-immigration enforcement protest last summer.
Wrackkie Quiogue, 28, of Long Beach, pleaded guilty last year to a single federal count of possession of an unregistered destructive device.
A Molotov cocktail is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon consisting of a breakable container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a fuse, typically a glass bottle filled with flammable liquids sealed with a cloth wick.
An affidavit filed in L.A. federal court with the charge states that Quiogue possessed the handmade device on June 8, 2025, while holding a lighter during protests near federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles. The document says Los Angeles Police Department officers saw Quiogue with the device and quickly arrested him, but he threw the device as he was attempting to flee.
“When protesting crosses the line into violence, the penalties will be severe,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement when Quiogue was charged.
Essayli said that an incident such as the one described in the complaint “could have resulted in life-altering or life-ending injuries to police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and innocent bystanders. We will not relent in dispensing swift justice to criminals who take advantage of our country’s freedoms to engage in lawlessness.”