Foreign national to be sentenced for robbery spree across Orange County cities

A Salvadoran national who was deported during a string of robberies — but returned to the United States and continued targeting liquor and convenience stores across Southern California — is expected to be sentenced Tuesday, Sept. 29 in downtown Los Angeles.

Jesus Soto-Parada, 28, had been deported during the 2024 robbery spree, but later illegally entered the country and was found living in South Los Angeles, federal prosecutors said.

He pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and seven counts of interference with commerce by robbery, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Soto-Parada was arrested in June 2024 with co-defendant Daniel Pavon, 22, a Honduran foreign national living in Gardena, who also pleaded guilty to federal charges. Pavon was sentenced in July to almost four years behind bars.

The robbers wore surgical masks and demanded cash at gunpoint while others acted as lookouts, prosecutors said.

The heists took place between January and June 2024, and included convenience stores in Buena Park, Cypress, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Pomona, Newport Beach, Agoura Hills and Gardena, prosecutors said. A total of $13,950 in cash and $7,415 in store goods were stolen, court papers show.

Following the robbery of a 7-Eleven store in Gardena, law enforcement located the suspects and conducted a traffic stop, resulting in the arrest of Soto-Parada and Pavon. During the search, officers reportedly discovered cash, a box of blue medical face masks, a tracking device, a black replica semi-automatic handgun, and two long-sleeved black hooded sweatshirts.

Shortly afterward, a clerk at the Gardena store was brought to the scene and identified Soto-Parada and Pavon as the individuals who committed the robbery, noting they were wearing the hooded sweatshirts during the heist, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.