Jesus Soto-Parada, a 28-year-old Salvadoran national who was deported in the middle of a months-long robbery spree only to sneak back into the country and keep going, was sentenced Tuesday to 63 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $17,815 in restitution.
Soto-Parada was sentenced on Sept. 29 to over five years behind bars for a string of armed robberies that hit convenience stores across Southern California, according to the Orange County Register. The restitution order, per the same report, covers losses tied to a spree that stretched across eight communities between January and June 2024.
The heists touched Buena Park, Cypress, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Pomona, Newport Beach, Agoura Hills and Gardena, targeting liquor and convenience stores throughout the region. The station's report describes robbers who wore surgical masks, demanded cash at gunpoint, and relied on other participants to act as lookouts while the stickups played out. In total, $13,950 in cash and $7,415 in store goods were stolen during the spree, though the Los Angeles Times has reported the total take at approximately $20,000 in cash and merchandise.
A Deportation That Didn't Stop the Spree
What sets this case apart is the timeline: Soto-Parada was deported during the 2024 robbery spree, then illegally reentered the United States and was later found living in South Los Angeles. The Times reported that a criminal indictment tied nine of the robberies specifically to a January-to-February window, part of the broader run of heists across the region.
Soto-Parada pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and seven counts of interference with commerce by robbery, the same account notes. He entered that plea roughly 18 months after the robberies stopped.
How a Gardena 7-Eleven Robbery Unraveled the Case
The spree came to an end after Soto-Parada and co-defendant Daniel Pavon robbed a 7-Eleven store in Gardena in June 2024. Law enforcement located the two men afterward and conducted a traffic stop that led to their arrests, the outlet reported.
Officers searching the men reportedly discovered cash, a box of blue medical face masks, a tracking device, a black replica semi-automatic handgun and two long-sleeved black hooded sweatshirts. A Gardena store clerk identified Soto-Parada and Pavon as the individuals who committed the robbery, and told investigators, per the U.S. Attorney's Office, that the suspects had worn the hooded sweatshirts during the heist.
Co-Defendant Already Sentenced
Pavon, a Honduran national who lived in Gardena, also pleaded guilty to federal charges in the case. He was sentenced in July to almost four years behind bars, months ahead of Soto-Parada's own sentencing.
The case adds to a run of similar federal prosecutions targeting armed robbery sprees hitting Southern California convenience stores. In a separate case, federal prosecutors announced that a San Fernando Valley man was sentenced to 199 months in federal prison for armed robberies of smoke shops, donut shops and convenience stores across Los Angeles and Orange counties during a two-week crime spree in early 2024. Soto-Parada's case was reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office and court papers detailing the sentencing.
