A California State University professor could face up to 20 years in prison after a federal grand jury this week indicted the educator for allegedly throwing a tear gas canister at federal agents during a raid at a marijuana farm north of Los Angeles this summer.
Jonathan Caravello, 37, of Ventura, who lectures at California State University Channel Islands, is charged with “one count of assault on a federal officer using a deadly or dangerous weapon,” according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
The charge stems from a July 10 “high risk” raid by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and United States Border Patrol agents at Glass House Farms, a 160-acre marijuana farm in Camarillo, a city just south of Ventura, California.
Clashes erupted between agents and the estimated 500 protestors who showed up, some of whom hurled rocks at government vehicles, breaking windows and side-view mirrors.
One group of protesters gathered around law enforcement personnel near the farm’s entrance and used their bodies and vehicles to impede officers from exiting the location, according to federal prosecutors.
The district attorney’s statement reads as follows:
For agents’ safety, law enforcement deployed tear gas among the protesters to assist with crowd control, ensure officer safety, and to allow law enforcement to depart the location. Border Patrol agents rolled tear gas canisters by protesters’ feet and Caravello ran up to one of the canisters and attempted to kick it. After the canister rolled past him, Caravello turned around, ran towards the canister, picked it up, and threw it overhand back at Border Patrol agents.
Caravello reportedly then left the scene but returned two hours later in different clothes where he was identified as the alleged canister thrower and arrested.
As Breitbart News reported, the raid was part of an operation that targeted two marijuana farms, the other being in Carpinteria north of Ventura. In all, agents found at least 14 migrant children at the sites, believed to have been labor trafficked, and more than 360 illegal aliens, including nearly a dozen convicted of rape, child molestation, and kidnapping, among other crimes.
After Caravello was arrested, the university issued a statement saying he was “peacefully participating in a protest” and calling for his “immediate release.”
Caravello is free on $15,000 bond and expected to be arraigned in the coming weeks in a United States District Court in Los Angeles, according to prosecutors. He remains employed and actively teaching, the university told news outlets.
According to one academic magazine, Caravello received his doctorate from the University of California at Santa Barbara and lectures on philosophy and mathematics in his current position.
Caravello received a largely favorable rating on a website called Rate My Professors which provides student reviews of educators, with two thirds of respondents saying they would take his class again.
One student wrote that he “clearly cares about the students & the greater community as a whole.” Another gave him a low score and stated, “He is a commie.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles based crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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