Deputy Guilty in Attack on Vandals

A 34-year-old sheriff’s deputy was convicted Wednesday of opening fire on a group of graffiti vandals in the Antelope Valley last summer while off duty and then lying about it to his superiors.

It took jurors a day to find Bobby Rodriguez, a nine-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, guilty of assault with a firearm, gross negligent discharge of a firearm, shooting from a vehicle and filing a false report.

Rodriguez faces up to 14 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 4 in Antelope Valley Superior Court. He has been suspended without pay and is free on his own recognizance.

Rodriguez was accused of chasing the group of taggers in his pickup truck last Aug. 31 and firing his service pistol at them several times, once while both cars were moving. Afterward, he called 911 and claimed that the graffiti painters had tried to carjack and assault him and had chased him.

Two independent witnesses testified that they saw Rodriguez chasing the taggers and heard multiple gunshots, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Seki said.

Rodriguez will probably not receive the maximum penalty but “should receive a significant sentence that includes state prison,” Seki said.

When peace officers “fire their weapon off duty, the same ground rules exist as when they are on duty,” he said.

But Rodriguez’s attorney, Vicki Podberesky, said that the taggers who testified against her client were gang members with a motivation to assault her client. She said she would “vigorously pursue” an appeal.