Mother Guilty of Offering Bribe

A Buena Park mother has pleaded guilty to two felony counts of attempting to bribe and intimidating witnesses against her sons in separate gang-related robbery and sexual assault cases, a prosecutor said.

Maria Trinidad Rodarte, 43, offered one woman $500 in June, 1993, to retract her identification of Lino Rodarte, 21, as one of several gang members who robbed a pizza delivery man, said Deputy Dist. Atty. John Anderson.

“She was offered money to come to court and change her identification, basically to say she was now unsure,” Anderson said.

In a second, unrelated incident, Maria Rodarte was charged with intimidating a victim between December, 1990, and January, 1991, into changing her testimony against Raul Rodarte, 24, who was accused of robbery and sexual assault, Anderson said.

Lino Rodarte later pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to 160 days in jail, he said. The sexual assault case against Raul Rodarte was dropped when the victim refused to cooperate because she feared for her family’s safety, but Rodarte is currently serving a prison term for his role in a drive-by shooting, Anderson said.

Maria Rodarte, who entered her guilty plea Friday, faces a maximum term of three years and eight months in prison when she is sentenced May 30. However, a judge who has reviewed her case indicated that he will not sentence Rodarte to more than one year in jail and three years’ probation, he said.