A California man captured on video throwing large rocks at federal immigration officers during last year’s unrest in the Los Angeles area has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.
Elpidio Reyna, 42, of Compton, received a 36-month sentence Friday after previously pleading guilty to assaulting a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and causing bodily injury.
U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha imposed the sentence. Reyna has been in federal custody since July 2025.
The case stems from June 7, 2025, when federal officers were staging an immigration-enforcement operation near a Home Depot in Paramount, California.
Protests had formed in the area in response to federal immigration operations, and portions of the demonstration later turned violent.
According to Reyna’s plea agreement, he intentionally threw rocks at a convoy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicles as officers drove through the area.
One of the rocks struck a government vehicle, shattering glass and cutting a federal officer on the forehead.
Prosecutors also said Reyna lit objects on fire in the street during the disturbance.
Video footage from the scene showed a man wearing a motorcycle helmet standing near the roadway and hurling large objects at passing federal vehicles.
Reyna pleaded guilty in February to one felony count of assault on a federal officer by use of a deadly or dangerous weapon resulting in bodily injury.
The charge carried a potential sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.
Federal prosecutors argued that the violence went far beyond lawful protest.
“Disagreeing with laws passed by Congress does not give you a right to assault federal officers,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
“This defendant thought he would go unpunished for throwing large rocks at law enforcement. Instead, he’ll be serving time in federal prison, where he can reflect on his poor decision,” he added.
Prosecutors also rejected Reyna’s explanation that his actions were “sudden and emotional and fueled by alcohol” and anger over U.S. immigration policy.
They argued that frustration with government policy did not excuse attacking law-enforcement officers.
The Paramount unrest was part of a broader wave of demonstrations that erupted around Los Angeles County in June 2025 after federal authorities stepped up immigration-enforcement operations.
Many demonstrations remained peaceful, but federal prosecutors brought criminal cases against individuals accused of throwing rocks, fireworks, incendiary devices and other objects at law-enforcement officers.
In downtown Los Angeles the following day, protesters also clashed with California Highway Patrol officers near the 101 Freeway, where vehicles were damaged and one patrol vehicle was set on fire.
Federal authorities have since obtained several guilty pleas and prison sentences connected to violence during those demonstrations.
In one separate case, a Westlake man was sentenced in July to 37 months in prison after pleading guilty to throwing rocks and burning debris at CHP officers during the downtown Los Angeles unrest.
Reyna’s case, however, involved a direct assault on federal immigration personnel during the earlier Paramount confrontation.
The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Border Patrol investigated the case.
His three-year sentence closes one of the more prominent prosecutions arising from the 2025 anti-immigration-enforcement protests, largely because video of the rock-throwing circulated widely at the time.
The Justice Department has emphasized throughout the prosecutions that peaceful protest is constitutionally protected, while violence against officers and property is subject to criminal penalties.
Reyna’s conviction and sentence reflect that distinction: he was prosecuted not for participating in an anti-ICE demonstration, but for intentionally attacking federal officers and injuring one of them with a thrown rock.