A tutor facing criminal charges for having a relationship with a 16-year-old Mar Vista HS student is the victim of an antiquated law, his attorney said Thursday.
Alejandro Rodriguez, 20, is charged with four felony counts of oral copulation and one count of sodomy of a person under 18 years of age. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Outside court Thursday, Rodriguez' defense attorney said his client was contacted through Facebook by a young man who was a freshman at the school when his client was a senior.
"The incident did occur, but my client was not Mr. Doe’s tutor," Turner said.
The alleged victim, identified only as John Doe in court, testified at a pretrial hearing that they he and Rodriguez engaged in oral and anal sex.
The relationship lasted about one week when John Doe told a cousin about the defendant. It was then that John Doe’s father contacted police.
Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Matzger said the DA's office is prosecuting the relationship as a non-forcible sex crime.
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"Mr. Rodriguez knew John Doe's age, knew that he was a student and knew that it was wrong to do this. They clearly discussed this before they had any contact," Matzger said.
It's illegal for a minor to consent to a sexual relationship with an adult, she added.
“Mr. Rodriguez was an employee of South Bay Community Services and was a tutor at Mar Vista High School, the same high school that John Doe was attending as a student,” Matzger said.
However, Turner said if his client had been involved in a relationship with a young woman, things would be handled differently.
“There would be a less restrictive charge available to the prosecution,” Turner said.
“The laws here are not fair and need to be addressed," he said. "There ought be a middle ground here."
If the same acts were performed by a couple of opposite genders, the consequences would be the same, Matzger said.
"They're being treated similarly to opposite sex couples," she said.
Rodriguez is out on bail awaiting trial.
His arrest on March 9 was the third sex crimes arrest in three days involving adults with ties to the Imperial Beach-area high school.