LOS ANGELES — Two South Los Angeles residents pleaded guilty Monday to interfering with federal immigration officers by causing a car chase in which they blocked and followed the agents while they were performing their duties.
Gustavo Torres, 28, and Kiara Jaime-Flores, 34, each entered pleas to a misdemeanor count of obstruction, resistance or interference with a federal officer,
They could each face up to a year behind bars at sentencing March 2, prosecutors noted.
According to an affidavit, early on Feb. 28, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Border Patrol agents executed search warrants at separate homes in Los Angeles, one of them in South Los Angeles. A small crowd began to gather outside the residence and some bystanders directed hostile remarks at the agents, who later got in their government vehicles and left the area, papers filed in L.A. federal court show.
At the intersection of 61st Street and Broadway in South Los Angeles, Torres and Flores — driving a Honda Fit — pulled in front of one of the government vehicles and blocked its pathway at the intersection. The defendants also drove westbound on 61st Street in an opposing lane, passing another two government vehicles, prosecutors said.
Officials said the defendants then pulled in front of one of the vehicles and slammed on the brakes, which the agents believed was an attempt to cause a collision.
Torres and Flores aggressively followed one of the government vehicles for two miles, attempting to cross multiple lanes of traffic, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“These defendants are charged with knowingly and recklessly putting federal agents’ lives in danger,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement when the defendants were arrested in May. “Anyone who deliberately gets in the way of immigration officers doing their job will face criminal prosecution and the prospect of doing time in a federal prison cell.”