Gregory Rodriguez, a former California women’s prison correctional officer, who was at the center of one of the state’s largest prison abuse scandals, was convicted of 64 sexual abuse charges on Tuesday.

The jury’s guilty verdict includes convictions for rape and sexual battery on behalf of 13 incarcerated women.

Rodriguez, 56, was facing 97 counts and was found not guilty on some while the jury was hung on others, the Fresno Bee reported. His convictions include 57 felonies and seven misdemeanors, prosecutors said.

Rodriguez is one of the few California prison guards to face criminal charges for on-duty sexual misconduct, which data suggests is rampant in the state’s women’s prisons and across the US, but infrequently punished.

The scandal exposed how difficult it is for survivors of officer sexual assaults to come forward behind bars and how the system shields abusive guards from accountability.

Authorities first disclosed in December 2022 that Rodriguez was suspected of sexually abusing at least 22 people incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility, the state’s largest women’s prison, located in Chowchilla in the Central valley. Rodriguez, who had worked in the state prisons since 1995, retired in August 2022 after he was approached by investigators, the California department of corrections and rehabilitation (CDCR) said at the time.

In May 2023, the Madera county district attorney’s office charged Rodriguez with nearly 100 counts of sexual abuse on behalf of 13 women. Investigation records and accounts from survivors suggested a pattern – that Rodriguez would first verbally harass women, making sexually explicit remarks, then summon them to isolated areas without cameras, falsely claiming they had appointments or were needed for prison labor. He allegedly offered them items such as tobacco or gum in exchange for sex and threatened to discipline them if they did not comply or they reported him.

A Guardian investigation revealed in 2023 that the prison had received a report of Rodriguez’s abuse in 2014, but instead of firing him, punished the victim. That woman said she was sent to solitary confinement as the prison conducted its sexual misconduct investigation. She was eventually sent to another prison.

In an interview last year, she said the experience severely affected her mental health and that she was left isolated without support. She said: “I just felt trapped because I couldn’t talk to anybody … I really internalized that anger towards myself.”

After the 2014 investigation, Rodriguez went on to commit dozens of acts of sexual violence, prosecutors said.

Roger Wilson, Rodriguez’s lawyer, said in an email that he and his client were “disappointed” with the outcome of the trial: “The jury had a monumental task of wading through weeks of testimony and exhibits to reach decisions on 97 counts … The jury clearly believed some inmates and disbelieved others.” He said he couldn’t comment further while the jury continued to deliberate on issues related to sentencing.

Terri Hardy, a CDCR spokesperson, said in a statement that the verdict “reaffirms” its own investigation into Rodriguez, which it sent to prosecutors in 2022: “The department resolutely condemns any staff member – especially a peace officer who is entrusted to enforce the law – who violates their oath and shatters public trust,” she said.

Records showed that women incarcerated in California’s state prisons filed hundreds of complaints of sexual abuse by staff from 2014 to 2023, but only four officers were terminated for sexual misconduct during that timeframe.

The California Coalition for Women Prisoners, a group that supported victims during the trial, shared a statement from one imprisoned survivor in its press release: “This is not a one officer problem. From my experience, Rodriguez is one bad apple on a tree that’s rotten to its core,” the woman said.

“I had to tell my story in detail while facing my abuser. It was awful and humiliating. His attorney tried to paint us as liars, despite all kinds of evidence against him,” another survivor said.

The coalition lamented that women had been forced to testify in chains. “While we recognize this step in holding Gregory Rodriguez individually accountable, we call for systemic change in CDCR policies and practices that will help ensure that abuse in the women’s prisons does not continue,” advocates said in a statement.

Last year, California lawmakers adopted legislation meant to support outside investigations into claims of sexual misconduct filed by incarcerated people. In September, the US Department of Justice also opened a civil rights investigation into sexual abuse at the state’s women’s prisons, though the fate of that inquiry is unclear as Donald Trump resumes office.

Firefighters in California are tackling a new fire that has broken out in Ventura County.

The blaze, dubbed the Auto fire, started in the Santa Clara River bottom near North Ventura Boulevard and Auto Center Drive, on Monday evening.

Progress on the fire had been “significantly slowed” by 10:50 p.m. local time on Monday, Andrew Dowd, a spokesperson for the Ventura County Fire Department, told the Ventura County Star.

A cause for the fire has not been determined, Dowd said.

Newsweek has contacted the fire department for further information via email.

Why It Matters

The new fire came as strong winds threatened the progress made so far on huge fires in the Los Angeles area that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people in the past week.

The Palisades fire, the largest of the fires still burning, has consumed almost 24,000 acres west of Los Angeles, and was just 14 percent contained by Monday night. The Eaton fire has burned more than 14,000 acres in the hills near Pasadena and was just 33 percent contained, while containment on the Hurst fire, which has burned almost 800 acres near Sylmar, was at 97 percent.

What To Know

Several videos posted on social media showed the spread of the fire.

One video captured from a helicopter and shared on X by ABC7 reporter Chris Cristi showed the fire moving west along the Santa Clara riverbed.

Local news station KTLA also shared a video captured from above showing how far the blaze had spread.

About 75 firefighters were working to prevent the spread of the fire, the Ventura County Fire Department wrote on X shortly before 9 p.m. local time.

An evacuation order has been issued for the Santa Clara River between the 101 Freeway and Victoria Avenue, according to an alert on the Ventura County’s emergency services website.

The alert notes that no residential structures are under evacuation.

Victoria Avenue is closed between Gonzales Road and Olivas Park Drive, the alert added.

What People Are Saying

Dowd told the Star that he did not expect the fire to threaten any structures. “Because of the size, it will be a long night of hard work to get the heat out of certain portions of this fire,” he said.

What’s Next

Firefighters are continuing to work on containing the Auto fire. It had burned about 56 acres and containment was at 0 percent, according to an update from Cal Fire at around 11:40 p.m.

Update 1/14/25, 3.30 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.

No, California Democrats, you can’t keep the funding tap on full blast when you have shown, year after year, that you can’t properly manage the flow.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is correct in issuing a “no-blank check” warning to the state.

“Obviously, there has been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes, all sorts of problems,” Johnson said Monday, acknowledging that any aid package for California may come with conditions. “And it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty and in many respects.”

It is crucial for California to ensure that such funds are allocated efficiently and intelligently. Without transparent oversight, there is a significant risk that these funds could be misallocated or disappear without trace.

We must not overlook the lessons from the past; during the COVID-19 crisis, the California Employment Development Department was unable to account for $55 billion in unemployment benefits.

If funds are disbursed hastily without adequate oversight, history could repeat itself.

The California government’s administration of public finances has been under scrutiny for years, such as its high-speed rail project.

Initially proposed to link San Francisco with Los Angeles, the project has dramatically ballooned in cost, with projections now ranging from $89 to $128 billion for a significantly reduced route from Merced to Bakersfield, according to the Institute for Energy Research.

In December 2024, Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-Roseville) introduced legislation that would eliminate federal funding for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, calling the project a failure due to political ineptitude, maintaining that there is no plausible scenario “where the cost to federal or state taxpayers can be justified.”

Addressing the homelessness issue has been equally fraught with challenges. Despite an investment of $24 billion over the last five fiscal years, as documented by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, homelessness has not decreased but rather increased by 3% in 2024, per CalMatters’ analysis.

The root causes, predominantly drug addiction and mental health issues affecting an estimated 200,000 individuals, remain largely unaddressed.

Yet the state’s “Housing First” policy, which prioritizes providing housing with minimal conditions, lacks accountability. It does not sufficiently tackle underlying issues like addiction, especially with the unchecked influx of fentanyl that pours across the border.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approach has been rightly criticized for intensifying funding for programs that do not yield proportional outcomes. Given these considerations, it is imperative to press pause before new federal funds are allocated.

California residents, particularly those in Los Angeles who are directly impacted by the fires, are calling for a more strategic, accountable approach to financial management.

California can’t afford to make the same mistakes, year after year.

Erica Sandberg is a freelance journalist and host of the San Francisco Beat.