LOS ANGELES — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - California, Central), published as received.

LOS ANGELES – A Compton man pleaded guilty today to assaulting and injuring a federal officer by throwing chunks of concrete at passing government vehicles during an anti-immigration law enforcement riot last year in Paramount.

Elpidio Reyna, 41, pleaded guilty to one felony count of assault on a federal officer by deadly or dangerous weapon resulting in bodily injury.

Reyna has been in federal custody since July 2025.

“This defendant could have easily killed a federal officer or innocent bystander,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “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.”

According to his plea agreement, on June 7, 2025, Reyna forcibly and intentionally assaulted with a deadly and dangerous weapon a federal law enforcement officer engaged in his official duties, resulting in the infliction of bodily injury to the officer.

On that day, federal law enforcement officers were staging a joint enforcement operation in Paramount in the vicinity of a Home Depot. Protestors, including Reyna, began to throw rocks at the officers’ official vehicles, lit objects on fire, and impeded law enforcement activity.

During this time, Reyna knowingly and intentionally lit objects on fire in the middle of the street and threw rocks at a convoy of law enforcement vehicles occupied by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, including the victim – identified in court documents as “R.T.” – all of whom were engaged in their official duties as federal officers.

Reyna threw a rock at R.T.’s government vehicle, which caused glass to shatter and injure R.T. by cutting his forehead.

United States District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha scheduled an August 7 sentencing hearing, at which time Reyna will face up to 20 years in federal prison.

The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and United States Border Patrol investigated this matter. 

Assistant United States Attorney Brenda N. Galván of the General Crimes Section is prosecuting this case.