PHOENIX — A man has been arrested and accused of numerous sexual assault charges involving multiple women and girls, and authorities are looking for more potential victims.
The Maricopa County Special Victims Unit announced the arrest of 30-year-old Jess Rodriguez Wednesday.
Back in July of 2022, MCSO SVU detectives interviewed a female victim of an unrelated crime when she reported she was sexually assaulted two years prior by a male named “Jessie Rodriguez.”
In late December 2022, the victim provided more details about the suspect which helped SVU detectives search all available databases. This led them to identify the involved man as Jess Rodriguez, which led to the discovery of his involvement or connection to other sexual assaults, MCSO said.
At this point, SVU detectives met with other law enforcement agencies in the Valley known to have similar sexual assault allegations against Rodriguez.
The cases included:
• A 15-year-old victim who stated she had met the suspect on social media in 2019, and he had used same or similar words that he used with the other victims just prior to sexually assaulting her.
• A 19-year-old female who stated that her friend had met the suspect on social media, and he used same or similar words that he used with the other victims prior to sexually assaulting her.
• Several NCMEC CyberTips were also connected to the suspect by way of his known emails, social media profiles, and usernames. CyberTips are referred to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children when an individual is suspected of Online Sexual Exploitation of Minors.
• In addition to the allegations involving the social media application, the suspect was alleged to have habitually abused a female victim from the age of 9 to 11 years of age.
Following this meeting, 24/7 surveillance of Rodriguez was initiated to prevent him from pursuing any other victims.
Detectives obtained several search warrants to obtain Rodriguez’s electronic and vehicle data.
On Jan. 21, 2023, Rodriguez was arrested and booked into jail. He is facing five counts of sexual assault, four counts of sexual assault of a minor, one count of sexual conduct with a minor, and one count of child molestation.
“Crimes against children remain a top priority for the Sheriff’s Office,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone. “This shows exceptional work by multijurisdictional agencies to get a child predator off our streets.”
SVU Investigators continue to analyze data collected through the numerous search warrants to identify any unknown victims of Rodriguez. An investigation remains ongoing.
Any information provided by the community regarding Jess Rodriguez should be directed to the MCSO SILO Unit at 602-876-TIPS (8477) with a notation of “IR22-017556.”
