A parade of witnesses told jurors Thursday how a Houston-area Air
Force recruiter transformed their lives after pursing liaisons with
them, some in the back room of his office.
A mother and her daughter, identified as Victim 15, took the stand and described the damage left by Tech. Sgt. Jaime Rodriguez.
“I can't explain how this changed everything,” said the mother, who is not being identified to protect the victim.
Sixteen
witnesses appeared, many of them telling a strikingly similar story
about Rodriguez, who was found guilty Wednesday of a long list of
sexual-misconduct charges. The witnesses testified Thursday in the
punishment phase of his trial, which continues Friday.
The women,
one who was 16 when she met Rodriguez, initially encountered him at
schools, job fairs and his Lake Jackson office. At first he was
professional, but Rodriguez later sent flirtatious texts that often
evolved into detailed descriptions of his sexual fantasies.
One of
them involved a ritual. He'd shutter the blinds of the office, lock the
door and hang up a “closed” sign before taking the women to a small
back office.
“He would send me sexting messages saying what he would do with me,” a 21-year-old Bay City nursing school student said.
“He asked me my sexual preferences, if I was ever interested in a woman,” said Victim 1, a senior airman.
Whenever
he had a chance, Rodriguez tried to bring his fantasies to life. An
airman based in California said that one day, he went through his ritual
at the office and then hugged and kissed her and asked for sex. The
woman said no.
A woman identified as Victim 11 went with him to
the back office, where she performed a sex act on him. Later, she
couldn't believe what happened.
“I didn't want to be there
anymore. I felt regret, shame,” the woman said, adding that after his
wife called, she eyed a photo of his children on a desk.
“My gosh,” she said to herself, “what did I just do?”
A
jury of eight male officers quietly listened as Victim 15's mother told
of how she stumbled over texts and graphic photos of Rodriguez that
were on her daughter's cellphone.
Her discovery was made on a
Sunday night, Nov. 13, 2011, a critical moment in a case that's among
the worst in years for the San Antonio-based Air Force Recruiting Service.
Read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Recruiter-marred-lives-mom-and-daughter-say-4599516.php