The Department of Justice has formally indicted a man who went viral for apparently handing out riot gear from the back of a truck during the recent anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.Alejandro Orellana, 29, is charged with conspiracy to aid and abet civil disorders, according to the charging document obtained by FOX News.Prosecutors say Orellana and his posse loaded up a pickup truck with Uvex brand Bionic Face Shields, masks, water bottles and other supplies, which they distributed to protesters demonstrating against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on June 9.Video footage allegedly showing Orlellana handing out the swag from the truck bed went viral, eventually leading to his identification by the FBI.Agents later raided the house where Orleallana was living with his parents and arrested him.
Orellana, a US Marine veteran, is a UPS worker and a shop steward for the Teamsters Union who has been active for years in fighting for social justice causes — including with Centro CSO, which is named as an homage to labor leader and activist Cesar Chavez, according to social media posts.Centro CSO has protests calling for the charges to be dropped planned for throughout Los Angeles on Thursday and Saturday.“An attack on one of us, is an attack on the people’s movement!” its slogan reads.
Orellana’s father, Francisco, said he joined the supply run at the request of friends but didn’t know what he was doing was illegal.“I saw the picture [of Alejandro in the truck], which my sister-in-law sent to my wife. I said, ‘What the f–k are you doing? Why are you doing that?’” Francisco told The Post shortly after his son’s arrest.The DOJ recently charged two other LA County residents for allegedly possessing Molotov cocktail bombs during the protestsThe Department also charged a Texas man for buying fireworks he allegedly meant to use against law enforcement in LA.Locally, the LA District Attorney has charged more than 40 people with protest-related crimes, including a batch of eight new indictments announced on Tuesday.
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