Rodriguez
KINGSTON – A Plattekill man pled guilty in Ulster County Court confessing that he committed a home burglary with a loaded gun last year.
Ruben Rodriguez entered the plea on Friday, May 22 as a scheduled pretrial hearing was about to begin.
Rodriguez, 24, was living in Forest Park in the Town of Plattekill at the time of the crime. He and an accomplice, David Valenzuela, used a crowbar to pry open a door of a residence on Route 44/55 in Plattekill on September 22, 2014. Rodriguez held a loaded gun as he and Valenzuela entered the apartment ransacking it and stealing personal property.
Rodriguez admitted he had a loaded gun and had no permission to enter the home or take any property from it.
After the burglary, the two men ran to their get-away car driven by Rodriguez’s girlfriend, which was parked in an adjacent driveway.
The unsuspecting owner of that residence pulled into his driveway, blocking the get-away vehicle from leaving, but Rodriguez threatened him with the gun and fired a shot into the front passenger door of the man’s car. His car was damaged but the resident was not injured.
State Police at Highland investigated and identified Rodriguez and Valenzuela as the perpetrators. They both gave statements in which they admitted to their involvement in the crime.
In exchange for his cooperation and trial testimony, Valenzuela, who had no criminal history, pled guilty to felony second-degree burglary, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years in state prison. Rodriguez is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
