Ventura County Jury That Convicted Man For Series Of Sexually-Related Crimes Returns Mixed Verdicts On Special Allegations

Tuesday May 07, 2024

     Updated--A Ventura County jury that earlier convicted a man in connection with several sexually-related and other crimes has returned mixed verdicts on the second phase of the trial regarding the special allegations against him.

     Last Thursday the jury returned guilty verdicts against 41-year-old Edgar Rodriguez Ruelas of Woodland Hills on five felony counts involving the sexual assaults and attempted sexual assaults of women during burglaries in Ventura and Thousand Oaks back in 2017 plus an incident involving the assault on a teenage girl that he tried to grab on a Thousand Oaks hiking trial in 2020.

     But when it came to the special allegations against him, the jury found not true all of the special allegations that his crimes involved great violence.

     They did find true the allegations regarding the victims being vulnerable, the crimes involved planning and sophistication, his conduct was a serious danger to society, and some of the crimes happened during a bugrlary.

     Rodriguez Ruelas continues to be held with no chance of bail and his sentencing is set for June 5th.