Sex trafficking case ends in mistrial

Lajoy Rodriguez went to trial on two counts of human trafficking and two counts of rape on Wednesday, Oct. 11, at the Coffee County Courthouse in Enterprise. The jury, comprised of eight men and six women, deliberated for two days and came back on Thursday afternoon deadlocked, unable to reach a consensus and therefore Circuit Judge Tom Head declared it a mistrial.

Court proceedings began Wednesday morning as prosecutors brought to the stand Manuel Rodriguez, the ex-husband of Lajoy Rodriguez. The prosecution’s questioning centered around a period of time in the summer of 2011 when his oldest daughter, the alleged victim, claimed she was given to a man by her mother for sex as a payment for her mother, Lajoy Rodriguez’s drug habit.

The prosecution asked Manuel Rodriguez about the timeline of events that led to his daughter allegedly being sold. Rodriguez was in Iraq at the time of the incident working as a government contractor sending money home monthly to provide for the family. He wasn’t there when his daughter states she was taken to a man and raped in a van on two separate occasions.

The prosecution asked him when he first learned of the alleged rapes, and he informed them it was Aug. 9, 2016 after his daughter had told a family counselor. At this point, it had been five years since the incident occurred. Manuel Rodriguez had divorced Lajoy Rodriguez in 2011 after he found out that she was cheating on him with a man named Ricky Sutton.

Manuel Rodriguez had an on-again-off-again relationship with Lajoy Rodriguez even after he had filed for divorce in 2011. The defense attorney, Josh Pipkin, cross-examined Manuel Rodriguez and asked him about his history of abuse.

Manuel Rodriguez said that when he and Lajoy Rodriguez married in the early 2000s he was “a monster.” He said that he went on to take a SAFE class in 2003 and that he never hit Lajoy Rodriguez again. The defense pressed Manuel Rodriguez about later events where she checked herself and their kids into a battered women’s shelter to get away from him. The defense’s goal was to set up a pattern of violence and intimidation by Manuel Rodriguez. Manuel Rodriguez said he had never abused his children beyond spankings, which was the way he was raised.

Enterprise Police Detective Gerard Dube, the next witness, interviewed the alleged victim in 2016 in the Enterprise Police Department interview room.

Dube said the location of the alleged rapes was determined when he, the victim and others drove an unmarked police vehicle to Mikey Walden Apartments in Enterprise. He said the alleged rapes occurred in a parking lot to the left of the entrance in two vans.

Dube said the victim described the vans as a white and a dark-colored or black van.

He said the alleged victim described her alleged rapists in general terms and said that Lajoy Rodriguez brought her to the location both times.

Dube said the alleged rapes were reported to police in 2016, about five or six years after the incidents were said to have taken place. He said police have not been able to identify the vehicles or locate the rapists.

Pipkin asked if Dube stated that there were "too many stories from too many people" to make a decision in the case.

Dube testified that this statement was not true, and that all the stories from the victim's counselor and DHR were the same generally.

He said that the alleged victim's statements have been consistent throughout the time of the case.

The prosecution’s next witness was the alleged victim, who is Manuel and Lajoy Rodriguez’s daughter.

She testified that Lajoy Rodriguez began bringing men "in and out" of the house after Manuel Rodriguez left to work overseas for almost a year.

She stated that the men would sell and smoke drugs and have intercourse with Lajoy Rodriguez while children were in the home.

The alleged victim testified that she and a sibling were also abused by Lajoy Rodriguez. She said there were four siblings living with Lajoy Rodriguez at the time.

The prosecution asked her about the first incident of alleged rape, and she told the story of being taken by her mother to apartments "near the nursing home" where she was given to a tattooed black male who she saw give her mother an envelope with money in it.

The alleged victim further described the individual as being "buff, but small."

She continued with her testimony stating that the individual hit her and knocked her unconscious while in the van. She said that she awoke to the man on top of her, raping her.

"He was on top of me; I didn't have any clothes," she testified, saying she would go in and out of consciousness during the incident.

During the detailing of the alleged rape, Manuel Rodriguez sat at the prosecution’s table with his head down, hand over his eyes, seemingly not wanting to witness his daughter recount the traumatic event.

The alleged victim stated that she was unable to leave the van because the doors were locked from the outside. She said it also "seemed like a day or two" before someone came for her.

She said she had bruising to her wrists and inner thighs after the incident. She also said Lajoy Rodriguez did not let her go back to school for another week, but a P.E. coach noticed the bruises.

The alleged victim said this happened twice, the second time being given to a larger black man in a black or greenish van by her mother.

"I knew where we were going the second she started driving (there)," she said.

Once there, she said there was another taller, buff black man who had tattoos. The alleged victim said the man also had a scar on his arm.

"I took off," she testified. "I tried to get away."

She testified that the man grabbed her and threw her in the van, and the "same thing happened."

The alleged victim said she had wounds to her wrists and inner thighs. She said she also saw Lajoy Rodriguez's reflection in the window of the van at the time of the incident.

She once again said that she witnessed her mother receiving an envelope of money and this time was kept in the van for over a day with no food or water. The evening of the second day is when her mother opened the door to let her out of the van.

She said the first alleged rape happened in September 2011 and the second alleged rape a few weeks later.

After Manny Rodriguez returned from overseas, Manny and Lajoy Rodriguez divorced, and Manny Rodriguez had custody of the children.

In 2016, she said she began speaking with a school counselor about what she said she experienced years earlier, which led to the investigation of the alleged incidents.

Pipkin asked if there were two other children living with Lajoy Rodriguez at the time of Manny Rodriguez was overseas working. The alleged victim said yes.

Pipkin also asked the victim, who said she was nine years old at the time of the alleged rapes, how she knew what drugs were.

She stated that the items were green and smelled bad, so she knew they were something else.

Pipkin also asked if she remembered Manuel Rodriguez hitting Lajoy Rodriguez or telling people Lajoy Rodriguez went door to door, trying to sell her to people.

She testified that she never saw her father beat her mother and that he wasn’t abusive towards her.

Detective Dube was called to the stand by the prosecution once again. He testified that he met with Lajoy Rodriguez Nov. 10, 2016, without an attorney present. He asked her about her relationship with her ex-husband, Manuel Rodriguez and that she walked out “when the meat of the investigation occurred.”

Dube said he asked her about her drug use during the time period that Manuel Rodriguez was working in Iraq and about her relationship with Ricky Sutton, an alleged drug dealer who reportedly lived at Mikey Walden Apartments, the complex near ESCC, that the alleged victim mentioned in her testimony and statement to the police.

Dube then said he asked her about putting the victim in a van, to which she replied, “Alright I’m done. I don’t know anything about a white van.”

At that point, the prosecution asked Dube if he had ever mentioned the color of the van to Lajoy Rodriguez and he answered no.

Dube said Lajoy Rodriguez walked out of the interview at that point.

The defense cross-examined and asked Dube how long the alleged victim reported to have been in the van. He stated over 24 hours and Pipkin questioned whether it was plausible that she had been in the van for that amount of time without water or food and no bathroom.

Dr. Pamela Trantham, a physician who practices medicine in Troy, was called to the stand by the prosecution next. She testified that she gave a physical and verbal exam and assessment of the alleged victim. She said she did the forensic medical exam Oct. 11, 2016, where she examined her from head to toe.

Trantham reported that her findings were consistent with an “assessment of that of a sexually abused child.”

The prosecution asked her about the alleged victim’s state of mind during the interview. Trantham testified that the victim was timid about divulging the information of the alleged rape and was worried that she could be harmed but didn’t specify by whom.

During cross-examination, the prosecution asked had there been any reported injuries to the alleged victim’s genital area due to bike or horseback riding. Trantham said no.

They also asked her if she had reported to having consensual sex with anyone and Trantham stated that she said she did not have a boyfriend and was a virgin.

Cameron Gary, the defendant’s son and stepson of Manuel Rodriguez, took the stand for the defense. Gary stated that Manuel Rodriguez had abused his mother, himself and the second oldest brother.

Lajoy Rodriguez then took the stand. She admitted to smoking marijuana but said she never did it in the home in front of the children, but always outside of it. She admitted to having an affair with Ricky Sutton during the time that he lived at Mikey Walden Apartments.

She came and left Manuel Rodriguez three times after their divorce. She moved out for good in February 2016 after Manuel Rodriguez had recovered from a bout with cancer and congestive heart failure.

The prosecution asked her why her daughter, the alleged victim, would lie about being raped. Lajoy Rodriguez said, “I have no idea.”

At around 5:43 p.m. on Wednesday, the prosecution and defense rested their cases and the jury began deliberation. They deliberated for about two hours before ending that night. The deliberation resumed Thursday at 9 a.m. At around 3:55 p.m., the jury announced to Judge Head they were hopelessly deadlocked.

After initially sending the jury back to their chambers to reach a consensus, Judge Head declared a mistrial.

Lajoy Rodriguez remains in the Coffee County Jail under bonds totaling $200,000.