Modesto man convicted of hate crimes in stalking, threats case
The Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office said 39-year-old Anthony Ruben Rodriguez admitted to stalking and making threats towards victims because of their Hispanic ethnicity. One conviction is classified as a serious felony as it falls under California's three-strikes law.
Between October 2024 and December 2024, multiple flyers containing what prosecutors described as hate speech were found throughout the Parklawn neighborhood and in other areas of Modesto.
The flyers created outrage within the predominantly Latino neighborhoods, with some community members bringing the concerns forward at a community meeting.
After law enforcement became aware of the flyers, Rodriguez was later arrested for making threats against a victim and stalking another. While serving a search warrant, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office found flyers like the ones distributed in the Parklawn neighborhood.
The Modesto Police Department said a victim found "a note on their vehicle containing hate speech and threats to harm them based on their race" on Dec. 4, 2024. When Rodriguez was arrested, police said he admitted to being involved with the note.
The stalking and threats charges came with special allegations that Rodriguez admitted to, making it a hate crime, prosecutors said.
However, prosecutors added that many of the flyers that were distributed were protected by the Constitution.
"We recognize that hate speech is deeply offensive and harms those it targets and those subjected to it," said District Attorney Laugero. "However, under the First Amendment, some offensive flyers are protected speech."
Rodriquez will be sentenced on April 24. Prosecutors said any fines paid by Rodriquez will be sent to local organizations that help victims of hate crimes.
"Hate has no place in our community," Laugero said.
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The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
Bailey, Bongino tag team FBI leadership role
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Indianapolis Star
2 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana school's recording ban is an assault on parents' rights
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Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘Nobody wants to call LAPD anymore': Outrage follows killing of man with replica gun
Activists and family members of a man shot and killed by LAPD officers in Boyle Heights flooded a Police Commission meeting Tuesday to denounce the department's handling of the incident. Police officials said Jeremy Flores, 26, was shot last month as he sat in a van holding what turned out to be an Airsoft rifle, which shoots plastic pellets. More than half a dozen people who spoke at the meeting called for the immediate release of unedited body camera footage from the July 14 incident. Under state law, police have to release video within 45 days of a shooting by officers. 'I just want justice for my son,' Flores' mother, Isabella Rivera, told the commission by phone. 'Nobody wants to call LAPD anymore because we are scared of them: There is too much violence.' She joined other speakers in questioning why Los Angeles Police Department officers didn't do more to try to defuse the situation, while also demanding to know why police waited about two hours to provide medical assistance to Flores as he lay bleeding to death. The killing sparked several protests in recent weeks in the working-class Latino neighborhood on the city's Eastside, including one at Mariachi Plaza. At a rally for Flores on Aug. 5, demonstrators who showed up at a National Night Out gathering organized by the LAPD were forced back by a line of officers wielding batons. At one point, Flores' sister was reportedly knocked to the ground by an officer. Several people who spoke at Tuesday's meeting of the Police Commission — the civilian watchdog that oversees the LAPD — denounced the use of force. The department has identified officers who shot Flores as Livier Jimenez, Fernando Godinez and Michael Ruiz. Police have said that the Hollenbeck Division officers were responding to a 911 call about a man with a 'possible assault rifle' when they encountered Flores in an alley on the 1200 block of Spence Street, sitting inside a white utility van holding what looked like a rifle. They said he refused commands to exit the van and drop the weapon, which officers did not realize was not a real gun. Instead, according to police, Flores continued to sit in the driver's seat and then raised the replica rifle, prompting three officers to open fire. Police said that after the shooting, Flores 'remained non-compliant and refused to exit the vehicle.' Eventually, a cadre of heavily armed SWAT officers and paramedics approached the vehicle and found him unresponsive. He was pronounced dead due to multiple gunshot wounds. As with all LAPD shootings, an internal review is underway. The case is also being investigated by the state attorney general's office, which looks at all police shootings of unarmed individuals. Replica guns are not considered deadly under state law, and a person carrying them is considered unarmed. Rivera described Flores as 'smart' and a bighearted son who liked to write music and was making an effort to start going back to church regularly. Although he was good with numbers, he wanted to try for a job in construction because of the pay and benefits, she said. 'We don't prepare for these kinds of tragedies,' she said. 'My boy's life counts, he was a human like everybody else. I'm not looking for money. I'm just looking for justice.' Flores, she said, had experienced occasional stumbles as a young adult. Not long before his death, he had been released from jail after being locked up on a probation violation, she said. And yet, she had noticed a change in him. A while back, he had written out a list of goals in a diary: cleaning up his act, going back to school and planned to get married. His fiancee, Paola Mendez, said the couple had known each other only a short time but talked often about their future. She has taken to posting some of their text exchanges on her Instagram account. 'I want them to take accountability. I want them to pay for what they did,' she said. Even though police have not released any other details, Mendez said she believes Flores may have experienced a mental health crisis. So far in 2025, LAPD officers have opened fire 27 times — killing nine people and wounding an additional 14 — compared with 19 police shootings at the same time last year, police records show. According to a Times database, Flores was at least the 18th person shot by police in Boyle Heights since 2015 — the second-highest number in any area after downtown.
