A Salvadoran national who was deported following a number of robberies but later returned to the United States and continued to target liquor and convenience stores in Southern California was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison on Tuesday.
Jesus Soto-Parada, 28, was deported during the 2024 robbery spree but later illegally reentered the country and was discovered living in South Los Angeles, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
In December 2025, he pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and seven counts of robbery.
Soto-Parada was sentenced to 63 months in prison and forced to pay $17,815 in restitution, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Soto-Parada was arrested in June 2024 alongside co-defendant Daniel Pavon, 22, a Honduran foreign national living in Gardena who has already pled guilty to federal offenses. Pavon was sentenced in July to over four years in prison.
The robbers wore surgical masks and demanded cash at gunpoint, while others served as lookouts, according to prosecutors.
According to prosecutors, the heists occurred between January and June 2024 and targeted convenience businesses in Buena Park, Cypress, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Pomona, Newport Beach, Agoura Hills, and Gardena. According to court documents, $13,950 in cash and $7,415 in store products were stolen.
Following the robbery of a 7-Eleven in Gardena, law enforcement tracked down the suspects and performed a traffic stop, culminating in the arrest of Soto-Parada and Pavon. During the search, officers allegedly found cash, a box of blue medical face masks, a tracking device, a black fake semi-automatic revolver, and two long-sleeved black hooded sweatshirts.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a clerk at the Gardena store was summoned to the scene shortly after and recognized Soto-Parada and Pavon as the perpetrators of the robbery, adding that they were wearing the hooded sweatshirts at the time.
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