SOUTH EL MONTE >> A man faces up to 35 years behind bars after a jury convicted him Thursday of two felony counts connected to a bizarre South El Monte burglary last year in which he allegedly broke into a house, claimed to be an FBI agent and ordered a woman to strip, officials said.
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury in Pomona convicted Robert Andrew Rodriguez, 51, of South El Monte, of first-degree burglary with a person present and making criminal threats in connection with the unusual break-in, which unfolded on the evening of Dec. 14 in the 2300 block of Santa Anita Avenue, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani said.
The jury failed to reach a verdict on two additional charges of attempted rape and impersonating a law enforcement officer, she said. Another charge of assault during the commission of a felony was dropped following Rodriguez’s preliminary hearing after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to support a trial on that count.
Rodriguez faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in state prison when he returns to court for sentencing on Feb. 23.
He climbed into the victims’ home through a bedroom window, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said in a written statement. He confronted a 47-year-old woman and her 17-year-old daughter.
Rodriguez told the victims he was an FBI agent investigating a bomb threat, though he provided no identification, sheriff’s officials said. He then ordered the woman to remove her clothing, threatening to kill her if she did not comply.
The woman called out to other family members for help, officials said. Her husband came upstairs and confronted the intruder, who fled, while her son called police.
Aided by home surveillance camera footage, detectives identified Rodriguez as a suspect and arrested him the following day.