Senior Sexual Assailant Arrested Despite Bad Witness Description
Ventura County – The City of Camarillo was set on a razor’s edge of anxiety on the afternoon of March 31, 2014, when a woman doing her grocery shopping at the Camarillo Mission Oaks Shopping Center Vons was suddenly assaulted by another store patron.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Pete O’Sullivan, the female victim was “sexually battered” by a man described shortly thereafter as “a white male, approximately 55-65 years of age, medium build, gray hair, and a bushy grey mustache.” The suspect was further identified to law enforcement during their investigation as wearing specific clothing that included “a white baseball cap.”
Using aggressive media outreach systems, the VCSD promptly issued a press release with a security camera photo image attached of the suspect, appealing to the public for any help in identifying what was clearly a dangerous individual roaming the streets of this otherwise tranquil community. Shortly thereafter, O’Sullivan reported, information began flowing into detectives working the case, leading them to identify Carlos “Rico” Arturo Rodriguez, age 74.
The fact that Rodriguez is Hispanic, nearly a decade older than described by witnesses, and is bald did not dissuade law enforcement, as eyewitness descriptions have long been proved to be notoriously inaccurate and undependable in criminal trials.
Over the next three weeks detectives sought the whereabouts of Rodriguez, and obtained an arrest warrant for Sexual Battery and Elder or Dependent Adult Abuse from the Ventura Superior Court.
On April 25th, detectives ascertained the whereabouts of Rodriguez and contacted him at a residence on Caleta Drive in the City of Camarillo, where he was arrested and transported to Ventura County Jail. He was booked on the aforementioned charges with his bail set at $20,000.
Additional information regarding the activities of Rodriguez is currently sought by VCSD, and those with such information are urged to contact Det. T.J. DeSalvo at (805) 388-5157.
Read more:
KTLA: Man, 74, arrested on suspicion of sexual battery
EdHat: Sexual battery suspect identified
