Anti-ICE Protester Who Threw Rocks at CHP Officers From an Overpass Gets His 'Find Out' Moment
The Find Out phase continues for the Anti-ICE protesters
who wreaked havoc, damaged property, and endangered law enforcement in
Downtown Los Angeles last June. In 2025, at the height of the Anti-ICE
protests, five brain trusts joined together to throw rocks, debris, and
lit fireworks (which are illegal in L.A. County) over the 101 Freeway
overpass in Downtown L.A., while the California Highway Patrol (CHP) was
holding point on the freeway below. One can only imagine the havoc this
would create, not to mention the potential for injury and death.
As testimony from the prosecutor's sentencing memorandum detailed:
"This
civil disorder stood apart in its magnitude,” prosecutors argued in a
sentencing memorandum. “A sergeant in the California Highway Patrol with
nearly three decades in law enforcement wrote a statement about how
this incident stood apart and the impact it had on him and his son. His
experience underscores how violent this incident became and the deep
toll it took on all law enforcement present.”
On
Tuesday, one miscreant's Find Out moment arrived. Ismael Vega was
sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison, and ordered to
pay a hefty amount in restitution.
From a Central District of California Release No. 26-125, sent via email:
A
man from the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles has been sentenced to
37 months in federal prison for throwing rocks and ignited debris at
California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers trapped underneath a downtown
Los Angeles freeway overpass – with a CHP vehicle set ablaze during a
violent anti-immigration law enforcement protest last year, the Justice
Department announced today.
Ismael Vega, 42, was sentenced on
Monday by United States District Judge John F. Walter, who also ordered
him to pay $253,415 in restitution.
Vega pleaded guilty on April
29 to one count of obstructing, impeding, and interfering with law
enforcement during a civil disorder.
First Assistant United States District Attorney Bill Essayli took to X to applaud the sentencing.
Ismael Vega, 42, of Westlake, was sentenced to 37 months
in federal prison for violently attacking CHP officers during an
anti-immigration law enforcement riot in downtown Los Angeles last year.
On
June 8, 2025, Vega threw rocks and dropped burning debris from the Main
Street 101 Freeway overpass in DTLA onto a CHP vehicle as officers were
trapped below, setting the vehicle ablaze and creating a substantial
risk of death or serious injury.
Vega pleaded guilty on April 29
to obstructing and interfering with law enforcement and has been ordered
to pay $253,415 in restitution. This incident stood out during a time
of enormous violence against law enforcement.
Those who attack our
brave officers protecting public safety will face federal prison time
for their crimes. Let this be a warning to others who think they can act
without consequences.
As RedState reported, several arrests were made in July 2025, in connection with the raid at the Glass House Farms cannabis facility
in Santa Barbara, including anti-ICE protesters who assaulted ICE
agents. However, in April, a federal jury acquitted Jonathan Caravello, a
professor at California State University, Channel Islands, who was
charged with assault in that incident. The evidence compiled by the FBI,
with a heavy lift from CHP and the Los Angeles Police Department,
against Vega ensured an airtight prosecution. Vega saved taxpayers the
money by pleading guilty, and his long sentence is justice being
served.
According to his plea agreement, during the evening of
June 8, 2025, two days after violence erupted against federal agents
enforcing U.S. immigration laws, Vega was part of a large group of
protesters on the Main Street overpass above U.S. Highway 101 in
downtown Los Angeles. These protesters picked up debris – including
cardboard and vegetation – and fireworks, lit them on fire and dropped
them over the freeway overpass’s railing, aiming for a nearby CHP
vehicle, which was within feet of CHP officers trapped underneath the
overpass.
Vega admitted in his plea agreement that he knew the
officers were under the freeway overpass and that the objects thrown and
burning debris dropped onto a vehicle created a substantial risk of
death or serious bodily injury to the officers.
Vega
did not just throw dangerous objects and then hide his hands. The plea
agreement outlined that at multiple times Vega worked to aid his fellow
protesters in lighting debris around the freeway on fire, and then
personally set a large piece of cardboard ablaze, and waited until a CHP
vehicle was in line with the overpass before he released it onto the
hood of the car. Vega's fellow brain trustee and co-defendant, Yachua
Mauricio Flores, then poured accelerant onto the car in order to
increase the flames.
Vega was next to co-defendant Flores and used his hands to motion towards and gesture at the flames.
Vega
also picked up and threw multiple rocks at law enforcement officers as
these officers attempted to clear the overpass. He further admitted that
he knowingly engaged in that behavior intending that it obstruct,
impede, and interfere with the law enforcement officers and their
duties.
Vega's buddy Flores is scheduled to be sentenced on August 3, and
faces a maximum of five years in federal prison. The lead defendant and
alleged instigator, Adam Charles Palermo,
is scheduled to be sentenced
on December 14, where he faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.
These bad actors must be held as object lessons, because this type of education is sorely needed.
Editor’s Note:
Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything
they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our
immigration laws.
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