A 43-year-old Coachella Valley advertising executive accused of driving drunk and fatally hitting a Cathedral City woman riding her scooter with her small dog pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder and other charges.
William Frank Rodriguez was arrested and booked into the Benoit Detention Center in Indio Monday after a warrant was served at his Palm Springs residence.
Along with murder, Rodriguez is charged with hit-and-run resulting in great bodily injury and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended or revoked driver’s license stemming from a prior DUI conviction.
Rodriguez was arraigned Wednesday before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Oct. 24 at the Larson Justice Center. The defendant’s attorneys also submitted a request for a bail reduction hearing the same day, which the judge granted. Rodriguez is being held without bail.
According to the Cathedral City Police Department, on Thursday night, the defendant, who is founder of Silvercrest Advertising, attended a concert at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, where he ordered a bottle of vodka and proceeded to consume it with four or five friends.
In a bail-setting affidavit, investigators described how after the show, Rodriguez headed to Quadaz bar in Palm Springs, “where he consumed an unknown number of alcoholic drinks.”
As the night dragged on, he left Quadaz’s and walked to another bar nearby, Dick’s on Arenas, ordering several additional alcoholic beverages, consuming them, then “stumbling” out of the pub and going to his Porsche Cayenne parked in the immediate area, all of which was captured on security surveillance video cameras, police alleged.
Court papers said that Rodriguez steered a course for home shortly before 1 a.m. Friday, allegedly pushing his sports car up to 65 mph in a 45 mph zone along East Palm Canyon Drive.
Christina Barrington, 60, of Cathedral City, was riding her scooter, carrying her pet terrier with her, at or below the speed limit on East Palm Canyon when the defendant allegedly swerved out of his lane and into hers, plowing into the victim, who was hurled onto the roadway with her dog, then “dragging the scooter 1,400 feet before making a sudden turn that dislodged” it from the Porsche, according to the affidavit.
Rodriguez went home and parked the car in his driveway, according to police.
Witnesses called 911, and first responders found Barrington unconscious with major injuries near the intersection, her injured dog nearby. The woman was taken to a regional trauma center, where she died the following day.
The canine is recovering under the care of the victim’s relatives, police said.
“Rodriguez never reported this collision, even after police impounded the vehicle, though he reported to a coworker that his vehicle was stolen and wrecked,” the affidavit stated.
The defendant took off for Las Vegas over the weekend, where security surveillance cameras in a casino captured him with “alcoholic drinks … including a glass of champagne he appeared to be toasting with,” the narrative said.
“Rodriguez has a 2013 DUI conviction out of Los Angeles County,” according to the affidavit. “He was given a Watson Advisement by the court when he was convicted (noting he could face severe penalties for causing injury or death while driving under the influence in the future). His license was suspended. His privilege to drive a motor vehicle has never been reinstated.”
A no-bail hold was requested by prosecutors because the defendant is known to have “access to large amounts of liquid or near-liquid funds,” documents said, adding that he travels internationally on a regular basis, particularly to Europe and the Middle East.