A Pomona man will serve life in prison after he was convicted of sexually abusing several severely disabled children under his care at a group home.
Steve Jackson Rodriguez, 38, not only abused the children but filmed himself doing so, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“From January 2016 to May 2020, Rodriguez produced sexually explicit images and videos with four minor victims, three of whom were severely disabled patients being housed at an Inland Empire group home that employed Rodriguez,” the release said. “One of the disabled victims was 8 years old when Rodriguez began filming his illegal sexual conduct – two years after he began abusing this victim.”
Rodriguez pleaded guilty in September to two counts of obtaining custody of a minor for the purposes of producing child pornography, five counts of production of child pornography and one count of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, crimes Judge John W. Holcomb called “unspeakable acts.”
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said Rodriguez was duty-bound to “keep his victims safe and alive,” a responsibility he violated “in the most despicable way.”
“His abhorrent abuse of disabled children was intolerable and properly sanctioned by the court,” Estrada said. “This result underscores our office’s determination to zealously prosecute those who commit these sorts of horrific crimes against children.”
Manly, Stewart & Finaldi has represented hundreds of child sexual abuse victims . We were the lead attorneys helping sexual abuse victims in recover $852 million from the University of Southern California. We are also the lead attorneys representing Olympic athletes and victims of former US Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team Doctor Larry Nassar and secured $890 million in settlements for our clients. We secured a $243.6 million settlement on behalf of sexual abuse victims at UCLA.In each of these cases we have helped victims and families get justice by conducting a thorough investigation of the organization and the school . We secured a settlement of $140 million on behalf of 81 child sexual abuse victims at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles. This was the largest child sexual abuse settlement by a public school district in history. In many cases we have discovered that administrators and executives know that the perpetrator was a danger to children and either did nothing or actively covered up the crimes.
