Former Orange County deputy pleads guilty to sexually assaulting inmates
A former Orange County deputy must register as a sex offender after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting two female inmates in 2022.
The Orange County District Attorney's Office charged former deputy Arcadio Rodriguez, 30, with three misdemeanors for sexual battery, sexual activity with a confined consenting adult and possession of a cell phone in jail.
Prosecutors said the current California law only allows them to charge a detention facility employee with a misdemeanor for "over the clothes instead of skin to skin" sexual activity.
"California law right now really limits what prosecutors can do in terms of holding custodial officers accountable when they're engaging in this kind of sexual misconduct against inmates," OCDA spokesperson Kimberly Edds said.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said the women were awaiting trial at the Theo Lacy Facility when Rodriguez "ordered them to perform at his every whim."
"To have a sworn deputy sheriff betray his oath of office to serve and protect by preying on vulnerable incarcerated individuals for his own sexual gratification is an embarrassment to the badge and to all the hardworking law enforcement professionals who carry out their duties lawfully each and every day," Spitzer said.
The OC District Attorney's Office said it has been trying to lobby the state legislature to change the state law.
"These inmates, they depend on these deputies for absolutely everything: their safety, their security, their medication, their food, everything, and for them just to be abused, like they're some plaything in a cage is just really disgusting," Edds said.
Rodriguez, who has been on GPS monitoring since January 2025, was sentenced to 364 days credit time served. He must also register as a sex offender for a minimum of 10 years and the court placed him on a one-year formal probation.
Edds said the OCDA will explore options to ensure that Rodriguez cannot be a law enforcement officer in California through the post-desertification process.
"In the state of California, you must be a post-certified to be a sworn peace officer," Edds said.
