Hollister
The embattled deputy who faces rape and other criminal allegations is no longer with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Curtis Hill announced Thursday.
Hill released a statement that Sgt. Mike Rodrigues, a 25-year veteran of the force, is “no longer employed by the County of San Benito” as of Wednesday.
The sheriff did not specify whether Rodrigues resigned or was fired, and Hill did not return phone calls seeking additional comment Thursday evening after he announced Rodrigues’ status in a letter faxed to the Free Lance late Thursday afternoon. In the two-sentence letter, Hill cited the California Peace Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act in not discussing Rodrigues’ employment status.
“I am precluded from discussing any aspect of this matter,” Hill wrote.
Rodrigues’ attorney, Christopher Miller, said Thursday evening he could not confirm his client’s employment status.
Miller said Hill violated Rodrigues’ peace officer rights. Miller added that Rodrigues will fight sheriff’s office allegations of misconduct against him, but the attorney would not elaborate.
“The department’s allegations against Sgt. Rodrigues are completely baseless,” Miller said.
Whatever arrangement was made between Rodrigues and the sheriff’s office, it ends a tumultuous, final four months for Rodrigues as a sergeant – and a career in which he was accused, and found innocent, of a multitude of crimes involving women in the 1980s.
In June, Rodrigues shot an unarmed, drugged man on Highway 156. Israel Guerrero, 29, died later of excited delirium *– with the gunshot wound, pepper spray and struggles with law enforcement contributing to his death, an autopsy revealed.
Guerrero’s widow, Ivonne Guerrero, filed a wrongful death claim against Rodrigues, Hill, the sheriff’s office and San Benito County on Oct. 8. The county had 45 days from the filling of the claim – filed on behalf of Guerrero’s three children, parents and Ivonne Guerrero – to respond.
Rodrigues’ 11-year-old daughter was in his patrol car at the time of the shooting and witnessed the incident.
Hill said Rodrigues followed office policy in the shooting, but violated rules by allowing his daughter in the patrol car. District Attorney Candice Hooper said the shooting was legal.
The Hollister Police Department received a report of stalking in mid-August that named Rodrigues as a suspect.
Two women – one his wife – filed requests for restraining orders against Rodrigues in August. The former sergeant was barred from carrying a firearm and was placed on paid administrative leave.
In September, allegations of rape against Rodrigues surfaced from two separate women, Hill confirmed at the time. Hill also confirmed the sheriff’s office had been investigating two allegations that Rodrigues violated a court order to prevent domestic violence and an allegation against him of intimidating a victim or witness.
Hooper has received reports from the Hollister Police Department and San Benito County Sheriff’s Office, but has not made a decision whether to charge Rodrigues.
“It’s still being reviewed,” Hooper said Thursday of the reports.
