Six California men have pleaded guilty to hurling fireworks, rocks and other flaming objects at California Highway Patrol officers during violent anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles last summer.
One of the agitators, Adam Charles Palermo, faces up to 20 years in federal prison for trying to destroy a CHP vehicle after throwing fiery debris from the overpass above the 101 Freeway onto officers trapped below.
The 40-year-old from Rampart Village copped to a felony count of assaulting, resisting and impeding persons assisting federal officers and employees with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
“After throwing the rocks, Palermo lit an object on fire and dropped it onto a CHP patrol vehicle,” CHP said last year, after the chaotic June 8 riots in downtown Los Angeles. “The object landed on the CHP patrol vehicle, causing the patrol vehicle to catch fire.”
Palermo — along with Ismael Vega, 41, and Yachua Mauricio Flores, 23 — threw fireworks and grabbed debris including cardboard and vegetation that they lit on fire and dropped on police below, according to the Department of Justice. Flores also poured liquid on the fire that increased the flames.
Vega, from Westlake, and Flores, from Lincoln Heights, each pleaded guilty to one felony count of obstructing, impeding, and interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder. They both face up to five years in federal prison.
Also pleading guilty were Balton Montion, 25, who was living in the Los Angeles area at the time; Junior Roldan, 27, from Hollywood; and Ronald Alexis Coreas, 23, from Westlake.
All three hurled rocks at officers attempting to clear the overpass, prosecutors said.
Montion faces up to five years in federal prison, while Roldan and Coreas face a year behind bars.
Palermo has been in federal custody since August 2025. The five others have remained out on bond.
Another man, Jesus Gonzalez Hernandez, Jr., 22, from Las Vegas, is expected to plead guilty on May 4 to a misdemeanor count of simple assault on a person assisting a federal officer.
The June 2025 riots lasted more than a month and President Donald Trump federalized the California National Guard to assist in quelling the unrest.
The guard members weren’t withdrawn until mid-July.
