The Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney did not
file charges against Juan Rodriguez, who police thought was
following female customers around a Safeway grocery store and
secretly video taping them.
Mother pleads no contest to endangering children
A woman who left her children unattended outside in the rain at a Morgan Hill hotel pleaded no contest to child endangerment and drug charges.
Roselyn Haunga, 30 of Morgan Hill, pleaded no contest to two counts of child endangerment and one count of being under the influence of methamphetamine, according to Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Amy Cornell.
Haunga was arrested April 20 by Morgan Hill police after a guest at Paradise Motel called to report that two children – a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy – were alone.
The witness reported the girl was standing in the rain crying for her “mommy.” The woman recognized the child, and escorted her back to the room and found there were no adults and the 2-year-old boy asleep on the bed. The woman said about 2 a.m. she had a difficult time sleeping due to a baby crying in the adjacent room.
Police arrived at the scene and could not find Haunga, who they identified as the children’s mother. The children were placed in protective custody, and Haunga later arrived at the hotel while police were still there. She was arrested about 8 a.m. She said at that time that she left the hotel, where she and the children had been living, to “get money.”
Haunga initially pleaded not guilty to the charges April 23.
After pleading no contest, which is the same as a guilty plea from a criminal standpoint, she was sentenced to four years probation and one year in county jail, Cornell said. The later half of her jail sentence will be served at a residential drug treatment facility.
Furthermore, Haunga has to take a 52-week parenting class and is subject to random drug testing.
D.A.: No crime in Safeway taping
The Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney did not file charges against Juan Rodriguez, who police thought was following female customers around a Safeway grocery store and secretly video taping them.
“After reviewing the evidence, we determined that Rodriguez’s conduct was not criminal,” D.A.’s office spokeswoman Amy Cornell said. She added that the video that was recovered in the investigation of the case was taken in a public place.
Rodriguez, 31 of San Jose, was arrested by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy and Morgan Hill police inside the Safeway store on Dunne Avenue May 8.
The off-duty Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputy detained Rodriguez after he saw him following women around the store with a small video camera concealed under a box in his hand, police said. The deputy, Sgt. Nuno Ribeiro, later told Morgan Hill police that while he was shopping at the store he noticed the suspect behaving strangely. He continued to watch Rodriguez as he followed several women holding the camera at different angles to record the women without their knowledge.
He was booked into county jail, but was released shortly after his arrest.
