By Robert Rodriguez
Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.)
CHOCHILLA, Calif. — A former prison guard was convicted Tuesday of 64 counts of rape, sodomy and sexual battery on nine female prisoners at California’s state prison in Chowchilla.
Gregory Rodriguez, 56, sat with his head in his hands as Madera County Superior Courtroom staff read the verdicts for each of the 97 counts. He was found not guilty on 21 counts and the jury was hung on 12 other charges.
Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno originally charged Rodriguez with crimes against 13 women, but the jury acquitted him in four of those cases.
Advocates for the victims praised the verdicts, while also calling for changes to protect female inmates against sexual assault by correctional officers.
”In prisons like the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), correctional officers like Rodriguez are permitted to commit heinous abuse by isolating and threatening victims. They count on fellow officers to not only fail to report rape, but also to facilitate their access to incarcerated people in unmonitored spaces, and exact retaliation against survivors who report the abuse,” said Colby Lenz, with the Solidarity Committee with Incarcerated Survivors.
Rodriguez’s family and friends sat behind him in the courtroom, sighing as the guilty verdicts were read one after another.
At one point, Rodriguez turned with tears in his eyes and said, “I love you guys.”
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Rodriguez, a 27-year veteran with the department of corrections, was accused of rampant sexual abuse during his time at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. He was assigned to Chowchilla from 2010 to 2022.
In a separate civil lawsuit filed by six female inmates, Rodriguez was accused of luring them into a parole board hearing room where there were no cameras and sexually assaulting them. The lawsuit was settled in October 2023 for $3.7 million.
Rodriguez began with CDCR in 1995 as a cadet and retired effective Aug. 25, 2022, after CDCR investigators approached him about the allegations.
Rodriguez’s attorney Roger Wilson said Rodriguez has maintained his innocence throughout.
“He is beside himself and so is his family,” Wilson said.
Had Rodriguez been convicted of all the charges, he faced up to 300 years in prison. Rodriguez will be sentenced at a future date.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the jury was still deliberating on two sentencing enhancements, known as aggravating factors. The jury must decide if the victims were “particularly vulnerable” and Rodriguez took advantage of a position of trust or confidence to commit the offenses.
If the jury decides those factors were true, it will add additional time to Rodriguez’s prison sentence.
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