A professor in California State Strait Island is accused of attacking agents of the U.S. Border Patrol with deadly or dangerous weapons — their own tear gas cans.
A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted Jonathan Caravello, 37, on one felony charge, after being arrested in an immigration attack on a Ventura County marijuana farm.
Prosecutors said that during the July 10 protest, agents deployed tear gas as a crowd control measure, while Caravello picked up a can and bounced it back to the officer. If charged, he will face up to 20 years of federal prison.
The incident unfolded amid a fierce clash between protesters and agents, at the weed-growing site at Glass House Farms in Camarillo. Caravello posted a $15,000 bail and was released on July 14.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the massive immigration operation resulted in the arrest of more than 300 workers, but there were no documents during the raids at the same time at Camarillo and Carpinteria in Glass House Farms. one Worker dies after falling 30 feet Federal agents trying to escape from Camarillo from the roof of the greenhouse.
During the operation, hundreds of protesters gathered at the entrance to Laguna Road at the Camarillo ruins. Prosecutors claimed that protesters used their bodies and cars to block federal law enforcement from exiting the farm and threw rocks on agents’ vehicles, which damaged windows and side-view mirrors.
“To ensure the safety of the agents, law enforcement deployed tear gas among the protesters to assist crowd control, ensure officers are safe and allow law enforcement to leave the site,” the prosecutor said.
Caravello is accused of chasing a tear gas canister that rolled past him and threw it at Border Patrol agents.
He allegedly left the protests and returned two hours later in wearing another T-shirt and shoes, according to court documents. The Border Patrol identified him as the suspect who had previously dropped tear gas tanks and tried to detain him. According to court documents, Caravelo allegedly refused to arrest by constantly kicking both legs and refusing to give agents weapons.
Activist Angelmarie Taylor Tell the Times before She was one of his students and witnessed Caravello “immediately piled up by multiple agents” while trying to assist a person in a wheelchair as the agents pushed the crowd backwards.
Prosecutors initially charged Caravelo with the felony assault in a criminal lawsuit filed on July 12, but later demoted it to a misdemeanor. On August 25, the professor pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor and told Ventura County Star“Everything I did in the protests was to protect people. I would never intentionally hurt anyone.”
However, this week a grand jury reviewed the case and eventually charged felony charges of assaulting a federal agent. Prosecutors said he will be arraigned again in the coming weeks.
Caravello was one of four U.S. citizens arrested in an immigration raid on suspicion of attacking or resisting officers, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Time worker Jeanette Marantos and Melissa Gomez contributed to the report.
