Deputy Given Probation for Shooting at Taggers

Much to prosecutors’ dismay, a 34-year-old sheriff’s deputy convicted last month of shooting at graffiti vandals in the Antelope Valley received a suspended sentence and probation Monday and will serve no prison time.

Bobby Rodriguez, a nine-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, was sentenced to five years of probation, fined $1,000 and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service.

On July 9, a jury found Rodriguez guilty of assault with a firearm, gross negligent discharge of a firearm, shooting from a vehicle and filing a false report.

Antelope Superior Court Judge Chesley N. McKay Jr. said before sentencing that sending Rodriguez to jail would not serve the public good. He cited Rodriguez’s good record with the Sheriff’s Department and the fact that he had no prior criminal record as the reasons for his decision.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Seki said he was very disappointed with Judge McKay’s decision and said it sends a “bad message to the public.” Seki had sought a three-year prison term for Rodriguez, far less than the 14-year maximum penalty for Rodriguez’s crimes, Seki said.

“If anyone else was accused of the same crimes, I don’t think there is any question that that person would be going to jail,” Seki said. “Here is a guy who has sworn to uphold the law. He uses a firearm in committing a crime and he’s able to walk away without ever spending a day in jail. Is that just?”

Rodriguez’s attorney, Vicki Podberesky, praised the judge for making a “courageous decision” and denied that the sentence was unfairly lenient. She said that because Rodriguez will probably be fired from the Sheriff’s Department, the loss of his career is more punishment than most people would have to endure. Through his attorney, Rodriguez refused to comment on the case.

“Most people in [Rodriguez’s] place could find employment after they served their sentence,” Podberesky said. “But he has lost his career and his peer group. It’s devastating for him.”

Rodriguez has been suspended without pay by the Sheriff’s Department during the trial, according to a department spokeswoman. A departmental investigation is expected, followed by an administrative hearing, after which it is expected that Rodriguez will be fired, according to Podberesky, Seki and sources within the department.

Rodriguez is accused of chasing after the group of taggers in his pickup truck last Aug. 31 and firing his service revolver at them several times during the high speed chase.

Afterward, he called 911 and claimed the taggers had tried to carjack and assault him. One of the people that Rodriguez claimed assaulted him spent four days in jail until sheriff’s investigators turned up two independent witnesses who testified that they saw Rodriguez chasing the taggers and hearing multiple gunshots, Seki said.

“It’s this kind of vigilantism that we’re trying to prevent,” Seki said. “Filling out that false report was egregious and he was within inches of committing murder,” Seki said, noting that two of the people he fired at were grazed by bullets.

“He deserved some custody time.”