A federal grand jury Friday indicted a Los Angeles woman and a South Bay man on charges that they assaulted federal officers stationed at a federal building in downtown Los Angeles — property that one of them allegedly defaced — during an anti-immigration enforcement protest last month.
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Erin Petra Escobar, 34, of the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles, is charged with one felony count of assault on a federal officer or employee and one misdemeanor count of depredation of government property, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Nick Elias Gutierrez, 20, of Hawthorne, is charged with two felonies: one count of assault on a federal officer or employee and one count of assault on a federal officer or employee resulting in bodily injury.
The defendants’ arraignments are scheduled for next Friday in L.A. federal court. Both Escobar and Gutierrez are free on $5,000 bond.
The alleged assaults took place when a small group of protesters gathered July 17 near the Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles. The group protesting federal immigration enforcement operations targeted various entrances to the building, prosecutors said.
At some point, a federal officer allegedly saw a protester — thought to be Escobar — using a permanent marker to write on and damage the property, court papers show.
Federal prosecutors say that minutes later, officers approached Escobar and attempted to detain her. While the officers tried to hold her, a second protester — suspected of being Gutierrez — used both hands to grab the shoulder straps of an officer’s bulletproof vest and began shaking the officer, federal prosecutors allege.
The officer, helped by two other law officials, attempted to detain Gutierrez. During the ensuing struggle, one of the officers dislocated his left ring finger.
Escobar and Gutierrez eventually were detained and arrested. While in custody and en route to a nearby holding cell, Escobar audibly filled her throat with saliva and spat into the face of one of the officers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
If convicted, Escobar would face up to eight years in federal prison for the assault charge and up to one year on the depredation charge. If convicted, Gutierrez would face up to 20 years behind bars for the assault resulting in injury count and up to eight years for the assault count.
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