Jury finds apartment owner liable for employee's alleged murderous habits
This is a weird one that came in late. I just banged it out, but hope to develop it more later.
A civil jury found Sharon Santos’ apartment owner and manager liable Thursday for negligence in hiring the convicted felon and registered sex offender suspected of killing her.
The jury returned a $12 million verdict against Scott Villa Apartments L.P. and Francis Property Management Inc. for hiring Eriberto Rodriguez, who worked as a maintenance man at the Burbank apartment in the 1500 block of Scott Road where she lived when she disappeared in 2004.
The jury also found that Rodriguez raped Santos, an analyst with Warner Bros., then murdered her and stuffed her into the trunk of her car before ditching it in Chinatown. Burbank police arrested him on suspicion of sexual battery, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and residential burglary in 2005 but are still investigating his involvement in Santos’ death.
The 46-year-old man was convicted on the charges and is currently serving a 12-year prison term, according to Larry Grassini, who represented Santos’ mother, Edna, in the civil case.
Grassini said in a statement that he hopes the verdict will lead to Rodriguez’ conviction on murder and rape charges, as well.
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