Michael Rodrigues, accused of raping four women, is shown at the courthouse this week during his trial. Today, a former co-worker testified about a suspected incident involving a prostitute in a hotel room in 2004.
A former sheriff's office colleague of Michael Rodrigues, accused of raping four women, testified this morning that the suspect attempted to assault a woman in a hotel room while in Laughlin, Nev., in 2004 while working as contracted security agents for a biker event.
Rodrigues is accused of raping four women between 1999 and 2007, when a grand jury indicted him on charges connected to three of the allegations. Prosecutors added a fourth suspected victim in the fall of 2008.
John Klauer was on the stand today and described the trip in May 2004. He testified that he and Rodrigues had shared a hotel room and went out drinking one of the nights. He said he was awoken by Rodrigues and a woman in the room whom he believed - by appearance - to be a prostitute and drug addict.
"When I woke up and saw them, he threw her on me," Klauer testified.
The witness alleged that Rodrigues placed the women on top of Klauer "in a sexual type position" while "thrusting her buttocks and pushing her on me."
He recalled Rodrigues telling her to have sex with Klauer, and that's when Klauer said he pushed her off while the suspect helped to remove her. From there, he testified, Rodrigues and the woman moved to the other bed, while Klauer testified that he turned in the opposite direction and tried to sleep.
Asked by defense attorney Art Cantu why he hadn't tried to stop him, and Klauer replied, "If he's going to have an affair, that's on him - not me."
Klauer said he didn't believe the two were having sex at that point, and he recalled how a couple of minutes later the woman leaned over Klauer's bed and whispered to him, according to the witness: "I don't want anything to do with him, something to that effect."
Klauer testified he told her, "If you don't want to be here, get out."
Upon Cantu's questioning, Klauer clarified that he was OK with her staying, but not with them having sex there.
Klauer said Rodrigues heard his comment to the woman and "decided to take her in the bathroom."
"He was pleading and begging for her to give him oral sex," Klauer said.
He testified the two were in the bathroom about five minutes and that it became heated and he heard them moving around, while he recalled hearing the woman saying: "I don't want to be here. I don't want to do anything."
Klauer then recalled how both came out of the bathroom and when he turned to look, they were completely naked.
"I pretty much yelled at him and told him to get out of the room," Klauer testified.
Below is video of opening statements from the trial. The story continues below it.
Klauer contended he had believed Rodrigues then threw her onto the bed because he heard a thump.
Klauer testified he still was turned in the opposite direction and that he heard her say such phrases as "No, stop," and that she became gradually louder and louder, prompting him to turn again and see what was going on, according to the testimony.
He described how she had been lying on the bed, stomach and face down, with her feet off to the side of the bed pointing toward Klauer. He recounted seeing Rodrigues holding her hands above her head and that it had appeared he was trying to "penetrate" her. Klauer testified the woman shifted around to avoid Rodrigues' efforts and that he heard her say, "No, stop - leave me alone."
That is when Klauer recalled Rodrigues telling him, "Come over here and hold this (expletive) down for me."
Klauer said he then grabbed Rodrigues and held him against the wall, telling him to get her out of the room.
"He grabbed her and threw her out of the room," said Klauer, adding how she had been naked and also alleging Rodrigues followed up by tossing her belongings out as well.
Cantu asked Klauer why he had not taken action earlier to remove the woman from the room, and the witness replied, "She had plenty of chance to leave and she continued to stay around with Mike."
During Cantu's cross examination, Klauer described how he reported the incident to former sheriff's Sgt. Wes Walker a couple of weeks later in 2004 and he confirmed that the next time local investigators picked up on the matter was during their probe in the summer of 2007.
Klauer also noted during cross examination how the two had been drinking earlier that night hours before the suspected incident and how they had consumed enough to be legally intoxicated but not "inebriated."
Asked by Cantu if he had a motive for testifying, and Klauer responded, "Yes, to tell the truth about the incident."
Cantu attempted to diminish Klauer's credibility by questioning whether his security business, Presidential Protective Services, conducted a private investigation on Rodrigues in 2006. The witness responded that "unofficially, no," it did not, but how Klauer's wife had been helping a friend and that a member of Presidential's staff did the probe on his own time.
Klauer also confirmed there was surveillance involved and it included some surveillance while Rodrigues - Klauer's supervisor at the time in the sheriff's office, where they spent 20 years working together - was on duty.
Kollin Kosmicki Kollin Kosmicki is editor of the Free Lance and Pinnacle. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 337 or editor@freelancenews.com.
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