Former California prison guard convicted of sexually assaulting 13 female inmates
A former prison guard was convicted Tuesday of 64 counts of rape, sodomy and sexual battery on 13 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 some counts of the remaining 33 charges, and the jury was hung on others.
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.”
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.
