Jury Weighing Fate of City Councilman

A jury Monday began deliberating the fate of a La Puente city councilman who is charged with breaking into his former girlfriend’s house and threatening her and her new boyfriend.

The case against Councilman Edward Rodarte, 26, a Walnut schools police officer, however, was pared back by Pasadena Superior Court Judge C. Edward Simpson.

Simpson dismissed a felony charge involving allegations that Rodarte ripped a phone out of the wall and also eliminated a special allegation that Rodarte had carried a gun with him for personal use--a crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of three years.

The judge let jurors deliberate on one count of burglary and two counts of terrorists threats. If convicted of those counts, Rodarte would not be able to continue as a councilman or police officer.

However, Rodarte’s attorney, Douglas McCann, said the judge’s decision was certainly a victory because the remaining charges allow a judge to opt to put a defendant on probation. He said there was no burglary because Rodarte never intended to enter the house to commit a crime and he made no threats.

During the four-day trial, Rodarte’s ex-girlfriend, Yvette Turriaga, and her boyfriend, Josh Alvarez, told jurors that they came home about 3 a.m. on Sept. 26, and after they went to bed, Rodarte came out of the bedroom closet. They claim he told them he was a member of the Mexican mafia and then threatened to kill them and her children.

Rodarte testified he climbed in a bedroom window at Turriaga’s home and waited for her to come home. But he said that when she arrived with a man, he hid until he heard them saying: “Wouldn’t it be funny if Edward showed up.” Rodarte said Turriaga hit him first, that he never threatened the couple and was not carrying a gun.