A Compton man was sentenced Friday to three years in federal prison for throwing rocks and injuring a federal officer during a June 2025 immigration enforcement operation near a Home Depot store in Paramount.
Elpidio Reyna, 42, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha. Reyna pleaded guilty Feb. 17 to a single count of assault on a federal officer by deadly or dangerous weapon resulting in bodily injury, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Reyna has been in federal custody since July 2025.
According to his plea agreement, Reyna lit objects on fire in the middle of the street during the June 7, 2025, 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 and cut an officer on the forehead, according to the plea agreement.
Prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that Reyna described his actions as “sudden and emotional and fueled by alcohol” and stemming from his anger over U.S. immigration policy.
“(Reyna’s) reflection on the circumstances surrounding his conduct, that his actions were `sudden and emotional and fueled by alcohol,’ because of his anger regarding immigration policy in the United States, is simply not an adequate excuse for his violence,” prosecutors wrote.
NewsChopper4 was overhead when protesters and federal officials clashed in Paramount Saturday.
Reyna was taken into custody July 23, 2025, at the U.S.-Mexico border in a negotiated surrender, the FBI said.
“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 following his arrest.
“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.
“Disagreeing with laws passed by Congress does not give you a right to assault federal officers,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement Friday. “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.”
The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Border Patrol investigated the case.