Federal brokers have arrested the unlawful immigrant who was tackled and zip-tied by onlookers through the California wildfires in a wild scene caught on video.
Residents of Woodland Hills ran down and subdued Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva after they noticed him attempting to torch particles with what one resident described as a “flamethrower” quickly after final 12 months’s huge wildfires started final January.
Los Angeles Police Division officers arrested Sierra-Leyva, 34, for a felony probation violation and suspicion of arson.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s workplace recognized him as a “particular person of curiosity” in the Kenneth hearth, which burned greater than 1,000 acres.
He was held till Thursday, when he was free of Van Nuys Jail and instantly arrested once more by Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers.
Viral safety cam footage shared on-line confirmed Sierra-Leyva attempting to ignite rubbish and previous Christmas bushes with a blowtorch earlier than neighbors chased him down within the disturbing Jan. 10, 2025, incident.
Native resident Renata Grinshpun mentioned she was in her yard when she heard a automotive screech to a cease and a person yelling, “Neighbors, he’s attempting to start out a fireplace! Name 911!”
Grinshpun noticed Sierra-Leyva holding a big “propane tank or a flamethrower” — which others described as a blowtorch — as he tried to torch particles on the street, she advised KTLA on the time.
Neighbors sprang to motion and swarmed Sierra-Leyva as he tried to journey off on a bicycle, as caught within the video — with one man yelling at him: “Put it down!”
“We actually banded collectively as a bunch,” Grinshpun advised KTLA. “A couple of gents surrounded him and received him on his knees. They received some zip ties, a rope and we have been in a position to do a residents’ arrest.”
LAPD officers later got here to take Sierra-Leyva into custody, the video reveals.
The LAPD responded and arrested Sierra-Leyva, video from the scene reveals. The main crimes squad was referred to as in as a result of he was “a attainable arson suspect” — however no arson costs have been introduced instantly towards him, LAPD officers mentioned.
It’s unclear if Sierra-Leyva was ever charged with arson.
The Los Angeles District Legal professional had no file of his case. Reps for the Ventura County Sheriff and the Los Angeles County Sheriff didn’t reply to requests for info on Sierra-Leyva.
Federal authorities at the moment are looking for his elimination from the US.
Sierra-Leyva has a prolonged prison historical past and spent greater than three years in US jails.
ICE officers mentioned his rap sheet consists of aggravated assault, trespassing, amphetamine possession, damaging property, violation of a courtroom order, and disturbing public peace.
Data present Sierra-Leyva has been convicted of a number of crimes in LA County, together with assault with a lethal weapon in 2023.
Sierra-Leyva illegally entered the US close to Tecate, California, in 2009, in keeping with ICE.
ICE officers positioned an immigration detainer on Sierra final January asking that he be saved in custody and handed over to ICE for deportation.
However native authorities refused to honor the detainer and launched Sierra-Leyva below California’s sanctuary regulation, ICE officers mentioned.
The state regulation, handed in 2017, ensures that no state assets are used to help federal immigration enforcement.
The Los Angeles Metropolis Council unanimously handed an ordinance in 2024 that prohibits the usage of metropolis assets and personnel to hold out federal immigration enforcement.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in February rolled out a number of anti-ICE measures, together with one that can bar federal immigration officers from utilizing or staying at any city-owned services.
Bass additionally created a brand new regulation that may impose a charge on Los Angeles property homeowners who grant website management to the feds.
The embattled Democrat — who beforehand referred to as for ICE brokers to depart the town — mentioned she felt compelled “to guard Los Angeles, sadly, from our personal federal authorities.”
California’s anti-ICE legal guidelines stay controversial. A federal decide final month blocked one other anti-ICE statute that may ban federal brokers from sporting masks throughout regulation enforcement exercise.
