POCATELLO — A 62-year-old convicted sex offender accused of raping a 15-year-old girl in 2023 is back in jail after he was released in 2024 and failed to appear in court last year.
Richard Robert Rodriguez, 62, of Pocatello, faces felony lewd conduct and forcible penetration as well as misdemeanor resisting and obstructing and providing false information to law enforcement charges in connection to the August 2023 Pocatello police investigation.
Rodriguez was initially arrested and arraigned on the charges in August 2023 and was granted temporary furlough, or release for approved occasions such as funerals or medical appointments, four times before being released on his own recognizance in February 2024, court records show.
His pretrial conference and trial date was continued nine times before he ultimately failed to appear in court in March 2025 resulting in a warrant being issued for his arrest, according to court records.
Rodriguez was booked into the Bannock County Jail again around 6 p.m. on Dec. 22 after he was arrested on the warrant in Meridian on Dec. 12, booked into the Ada County Jail in Boise and subsequently extradited by Bannock County Sheriff’s deputies, authorities said.
The charges against Rodriguez stem from an investigation that began on Aug. 11, 2023, when officers were assigned to conduct follow-up on a sexual assault investigation involving a 15-year-old girl alleging Rodriguez had removed her clothing against her consent and raped her at a Pocatello residence, according to a police report the Idaho State Journal obtained this week.
The girl had sought treatment at Portneuf Medical Center and was examined by a sexual assault nurse examiner, who found a substance consistent with semen, which was collected for testing at the Idaho State Police Forensics Laboratory, police said.
Officers located Rodriguez on Aug. 11, 2023, at a separate Pocatello residence with a signed warrant to obtain a DNA sample from him for comparison with the substance recovered during the sexual assault examination, according to police.
When officers attempted to detain Rodriguez, he initially provided them with a false name and when an officer attempted to detain Rodriguez, he resisted arrest, police said.
Rodriguez was brought to the Pocatello Police Department, where officers interviewed though he denied any sexual contact occurred between him and the girl, the report says. He said he only went into her room to grab his tablet and charger and that he had tapped her on the left shoulder to let her know he was leaving, according to the police report.
A DNA sample was obtained and Rodriguez was transported to the Bannock County Jail, where he was initially incarcerated with a $100,000 bond before being released in 2024.
Rodriguez is now incarcerated at the Bannock County Jail on a no-bond hold. He is scheduled to appear in front of 6th District Judge Javier Gabiola for a pretrial conference on Feb. 2 with a trial date currently set for Feb. 17.
According to court records, Rodriguez was required to register as a sex offender after he was convicted of assault with the intent to commit a serious felony in June 1995. He was initially charged with rape in 1994 at age 31 but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, court records show.
If he’s convicted, each of the lewd conduct and forcible penetration charges carry a maximum penalty of up to life in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.
Prosecutors are also seeking two enhancements against Rodriguez — one that would impose a 15-year mandatory minimum for being a repeat child sexual abuse offender and another that could increase any sentence levied against him by no less than five years and up to life for being a persistent violator, court records show.