Palm Desert man who firebombed Republican HQ due in state court
A Palm Desert man who was sentenced in federal court to five years behind bars for throwing a firebomb into a Republican office in the Coachella Valley is scheduled to appear in Riverside County Superior Court tomorrow, where he is facing similar charges.
Carlos Espriu, 24, pleaded guilty in March to a single federal count of attempted arson of a building, admitting that he used a Molotov cocktail in an attempt to destroy the East Valley Republican Women Federated office in La Quinta in May 2020.
U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson also ordered the defendant, who remains in custody, to pay $5,426 in restitution for damage caused by the firebombing.
Meanwhile, the Riverside County District Attorney's Office charged him with three felonies -- one count of arson of a non-dwelling and two counts of possessing destructive or explosive devices. He also faces a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a device designed to accelerate the fire and faces up to 15 years and eight months in state prison if convicted as charged.
Espriu is scheduled to appear for a felony settlement conference at the Riverside Hall of Justice on Thursday morning. He previously pleaded not guilty in state court before being transferred to federal custody.
During the early morning hours of May 31 last year, Espriu broke the front windows of the EVRWF headquarters and tossed inside a lighted Molotov cocktail made of three bottles he had taped together, according to federal
prosecutors.
Nobody was injured in the blaze.
Arriving firefighters quickly extinguished the fire before it could cause much damage, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
EVRWF President Joy Miedecke said surveillance footage showed a man set the fire after breaking the windows with a baseball bat.
Several people came forward with information that allowed law enforcement officials to identify Espriu, the DOJ confirmed.
Investigators discovered social media accounts believed to belong to Espriu, including a Twitter account that, three days before the EVRWF firebombing, tweeted: "I wanna go burn sh** n get hit with tear gas.”
Officials also saw Espriu repeatedly using a vehicle closely resembling one seen on the surveillance video.
Espriu was arrested by the Gang Impact Team in Indio on September 9, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
"Investigators determined that Espriu was attending a party in Indio on Sept. 9 and stopped a vehicle he was driving when he left the party," a district attorney news release said.
The criminal complaint also revealed that investigators served a search warrant at Espriu’s residence in July that led to the recovery of a green lighter which is very similar to the one used to light the Molotov cocktails.
Officials also recovered audio recordings from a dashboard camera in which they say Espriu is heard telling a woman in late June that he shaved his facial hair after seeing some of the surveillance video broadcast on local news. He also described his planning, his attempts to recruit others to help him, and the steps he took to start the fire.
In the audio recordings, Espriu says he manufactured the Molotov cocktails by filling three bottles with gasoline and inserting a towel into one bottle. He reportedly then recounts the details of the firebombing as seen on the surveillance video, according to the complaint.
