Mateo Paul a.k.a. “Infant Bix was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for the murder of a victim shot to death during a marijuana deal

24 year old Mateo Paul  a.k.a. “Infant Bix was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for the murder of a victim shot to death during a marijuana deal.

United States District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, who also ordered him to pay $1,842,927 in restitution. 

In February 2025, Paul pleaded guilty to one count of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of brandishing and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He has been in custody since November 2023.

U.S. Attorney's Office of Southern California released details yesterday.

"A Long Beach man was sentenced today to 30 years in federal prison for his primary role in the March 2021 murder of a victim who was shot to death in Inglewood during a marijuana deal.

Mateo Paul, 24, a.k.a. “Infant Bix,” was sentenced by United States District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, who also ordered him to pay $1,842,927 in restitution.

Paul pleaded guilty in February 2025 to one count of interference with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act) and one count of brandishing and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He has been in custody since November 2023.

According to court documents, in March 2021, Paul and co-defendants Leandrew Raglin, 24, of Lancaster, and Iysis Elanore Smith, 24, of Inglewood, agreed to rob a marijuana dealer at gunpoint. They devised a plan to lure the dealer via a social media application to a meeting location, where they would ambush him at gunpoint and steal his marijuana.

On March 15, 2021, Smith approached the vehicle occupied by the victim. While Smith distracted the victim, Paul and Raglin parked behind the victim’s vehicle. Raglin then exited the vehicle Paul was driving, approached the passenger side of the victim’s car and opened fire, repeatedly wounding the victim in the passenger seat. Raglin then walked around to the driver’s side of the vehicle and opened fire, fatally wounding the victim in the driver’s seat of the vehicle.

Paul admitted in his plea agreement that Raglin’s brandishing and discharge of the firearm fell within the scope of Paul’s criminal agreement and could reasonably have been foreseen to be a necessary or natural consequence of the unlawful agreement.

“[Paul] played a vital role in this senseless and selfish crime,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “He proposed the robbery to his co-conspirators, chose the target, asked his co-conspirator to set up the ruse luring the victims to the scene, told his other co-conspirator they would use a gun if necessary to complete the robbery, and drove the getaway car. Simply put, [the victim] would be alive today, if not for…Paul.”

Relatedly, at the conclusion of an eight-day trial, a jury in September 2025 found Raglin guilty of one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act), one count of Hobbs Act robbery, and one count of possessing, using, carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm in furtherance of, and one count of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, resulting in death constituting murder. 

Raglin’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 8, 2027, at which time he will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

Smith has pleaded guilty to felony robbery charges in this case and awaits sentencing.

The FBI and the Inglewood Police Department investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Chelsea Norell of the Major Crimes Section prosecuted this case."