Rochester Man Pleads Guilty To Lying To Officers During Shooting Investigation

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Jashua Figueroa, 19, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony before Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. The charge carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn M. Hartford, who is handling the case, stated that co-defendant Obed Torres Garcia is accused of assaulting federal officers at 6 Burbank Street in Rochester, who were executing a state search warrant in a federal narcotics investigation on January 29, 2018. At that time, Garcia was in the rear driver’s side area of a vehicle parked in the driveway of 6 Burbank Street. Jashua Figueroa was seated in the front passenger seat. When the officers exited their van at the residence, wearing clearly marked law enforcement uniforms, Garcia got out of the vehicle and fired a handgun at the officers.

Following the shooting, Figueroa gave a statement to Rochester Police Department investigators claiming that he never saw Obed Garcia Torres with a firearm, when he in fact had seen Garcia with a firearm and knew that Obed Torres Garcia used said firearm to shoot at officers that day.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Violent Crime Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Ashan Benedict, New York Field Division; the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief Mark Simmons; the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Todd Baxter; the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, under the direction of District Attorney Sandra Doorley; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert; the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division; the Greece Police Department, under the direction of Chief Patrick Phelan; the Brighton Police Department, under the direction of Chief Mark Henderson; and U.S. Border Patrol, under the direction of Patrol Agent-in-Charge Gregory Johnson.

Sentencing is scheduled for February 8, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. before Judge Geraci.