A Reading man has been sentenced in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to 45 years in prison following his conviction for trying to kill three FBI special agents in northwest city neighborhood and triggering a daylong siege by law enforcement officers in 2020.
Rafael Vega-Rodriguez, 42, was sentenced Wednesday by Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr., who also ordered Vega-Rodriguez to serve five years of supervised release and pay a $4,500 fine and an $800 special assessment, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that.
Vega was convicted in February of three counts of attempted murder of a federal law enforcement officer, three counts of assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon and two related firearms charges.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office:
On March 1, 2020, FBI special agents were conducting surveillance in the area of Gordon Street, looking for Vega-Rodriguez, who was the subject of an active state arrest warrant for a parole violation.
About 11:45 p.m., the agents saw Vega-Rodriguez walking in the area of West Greenwich Street with a second person. When the agents tried to stop him, Vega-Rodriguez drew a handgun from under his sweatshirt and shot at them. He continued to shoot as he and the second person fled. Vega-Rodriguez fired four rounds at the agents.
Officers believed Vega-Rodriguez had sought refuge in an unoccupied building in the 500 block of Gordon Street, which led to a siege of the property.
Officials forced their way into the home and determined Vega-Rodriguez had escaped.
After an intense manhunt, investigators discovered he had fled to Leola, Lancaster County, about 30 miles southwest of Reading. FBI special agents and state troopers in the early morning hours of March 3, 2020, found Vega-Rodriguez hiding in a residence in Leola and arrested him there.
“Rafael Vega-Rodriguez tried to murder three FBI agents doing their job, which, on that day, was to effect his lawful arrest,” Romero said in a release. “He’s proven himself to be a violent, dangerous man, a threat not just to law enforcement, but the community, as well. We’re all safer with him behind bars and today’s sentence ensures that’s exactly where he’ll spend the next several decades of his life.”
“The FBI does not tolerate acts of violence against anyone, let alone against our own,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of FBI Philadelphia. “Each and every day, FBI agents place themselves in harm’s way to protect their fellow citizens. Today’s sentencing makes it clear that we will stop at nothing to bring to justice those who commit an act of violence against federal agents.”
On the day of the incident, while Vega-Rodriguez was believed to have been holed up in the home, rifle-toting FBI agents in tactical gear ordered residents over loudspeakers to stay inside for their own safety.
The siege ended when a team of officers made entry into the home after setting off a series of flash bomb discharges and found no one inside.
Three row homes — including the units adjoining either side of the unoccupied home that was the focus of the activity — sustained damage, including windows shattered by the detonations.
Neighbors complained about the disruption and how the incident had left them shaken, but officers said the large-scale response was necessary because Vega-Rodriguez represented an imminent threat.
Source: Berkshire mont