A couple from South Los Angeles faces criminal charges for having allegedly used their car to try to hinder and pursue federal immigration agents who served as soon as possible this year.
Gustavo Torres, 28, and Kiara Jaime-Flores, 34, are accused of conspiracy in order to prevent or injure the agents, the federal prosecutors announced on Wednesday.
The couple could not be joined to comment. It was not immediately clear if they had a legal representation.
The accusations arise from an incident on February 28 when agents of the Ministry of Internal Security and Customs and the Protection of American border served as searching mandates in southern Los Angeles. A small crowd gathered in front of a house in the Florence district, according to a federal affidavit which accompanied the accusation documents.
At 9:32 am, three federal laws for applying the law left the premises with “evidence”, said court documents. There was no indication if someone at home was taken by federal agents.
An agent recorded Jaime Flores outside the house standing next to a Honda made on leaving. This same car blocked agents vehicles at the 61st street and Broadway. The agents were able to roll in the Honda, according to the Affidavit.
During his distance, Torres led before one of the government vehicles and used his brakes aggressively, according to the Affidavit. The agents said Torres then fired in a service station and followed the agents in about two miles.
Federal agents have identified the Honda license plate made thanks to surveillance images of a local company.
On May 5, a federal agent interviewed Jaime-Flores during a traffic stop. She admitted that she was driving the Honda made with an expired driving license. She asked if she was questioned in relation to an incident related to immigration, according to the affidavit.
She told the agent that she and her boyfriend later identified as Torres, went to the residence of the Florence district after seeing the activity on social networks. According to the affidavit, she said that the couple was opposed to the activities of the immigration agent.
According to the agent, Jaime-Flores granted a search for his mobile phone. The agent found photos deleted on the social networks of the house where the immigration agents served the search warrant on February 28.
A dated photo had written on it who said, “We are trying to stop, but I can’t do it alone! We have to stay together to stop them as long as possible! Please beat us together in the right direction! Somos Mas Gentte that migra officials! (We are more numerous than immigration officials) ”
Jaime-Flores was detained and placed on the back seat of a cruiser from the Inglewood police department. She read her Miranda rights and agreed to speak with the agent, according to the Affidavit.
Jaime-Flores then phoned Torres in the presence of an immigration agent. She told him to meet the agent, because “we did nothing wrong,” according to the Affidavit.
Torres met the agent in a company in Santa Fe Springs and he was told that he was not in a state of arrest. Torres said that he had a suspended driver’s license and that he had been suspended on the same day that the agents were carrying out their operation.
During the interview, Torres would have admitted to having been involved in blocking immigration vehicles, driving aggressively around their vehicles and following them.
He said to the agent: “We thought it would be a good idea, you may know if, maybe if it was immigration, they took the family of someone’s unjustified family … So, well me and my girlfriend, the first instinct was, well, to block cars.”
The agent showed him additional photos of surveillance images and asked him to drive behind federal agents after withdrawing the service station.
“I know, it was so stupid, and I would never do that in my life, I don’t know what I thought. I don’t know. I would never do it again,” he told the interview.
The couple should appear before the Federal Court on Wednesday afternoon.
California Daily Newspapers
