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Rodriguez charged with assaulting four Detention Center officers

Posted at 2:29 PM, May 14, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-14 16:29:36-04

Elias Rodriguez, 27, has been charged after allegedly hitting three Cascade County Detention Center officers and spitting on a fourth officer.

According to court documents, a Cascade County Sheriff’s deputy responded to the Detention Center on May 12 for a report of an inmate who had assaulted several detention officers.

The documents state that Rodriguez, who was arrested in February for assault and kidnapping, had been instructed to return to his cell when he rushed out of a shower stall fully-clothed and hit two officers.

While detention staff were assisting Rodriguez to the ground, he struck another officer in the forehead.

The documents state that Rodriguez continued to fight with staff as they removed him from the shower area.

The deputy observed redness, swelling, bruising, and abrasions on the three victims. He also reviewed video surveillance of the incident and found the video consistent with the victim reports.

The documents continue that the deputy learned Rodriguez had spit on a fourth detention officer and thrown his food at her, which was also caught on surveillance.

Rodriguez has been charged with three felony counts of assault on a peace officer or judicial officer and one misdemeanor count for assault with a bodily fluid.

His bond has been set at $25,000.


(February 12, 2018) Elias Joseph Rodriguez has been charged in Great Falls with three felonies and one misdemeanor after he allegedly fired a gun at a vehicle, and held a person under threat while committing a felony.

According to a police affidavit, police were dispatched to the area of 6th Street NW and 4th Avenue NW at about 3:24 a.m. on Sunday after people reported hearing gunshots.  One person told dispatchers that he had been shot at while he was driving, and said that the suspect was following him in another vehicle.

A police officer spotted the suspect vehicle and attempted a traffic stop. The driver of the suspect vehicle drove away, but spun out on the icy road; police say that a man – later identified as Rodriguez – got out of the vehicle and began running away, holding something in his hands near his waist-band.

Court documents state that Rodriguez was quickly apprehended, and officers recovered a revolver that had been thrown onto a nearby roof; the revolver had five spent casings in the cylinder, according to the affidavit.

Police talked to the two people who were allegedly shot at; they told police that they were outside their apartment sitting in a vehicle when a light-colored SUV pulled up next to them. They said that a woman in the SUV asked them about a purse, and then two men got out of the SUV. One of the men then reportedly fired approximately five rounds at their vehicle; two of the rounds hit the vehicle.

The victims then drove away, called 911, and began heading toward the Great Falls Police Department.The driver of the suspect vehicle ("Jane Doe") told police that Rodriguez had come to a house that she was at and said he looking for a purse full of money. They apparently were able to track the purse to the area of the apartment building where the two other people were sitting in a vehicle.

Doe told police that Rodriguez made her drive to the area by threat of violence. Doe told police that Rodriguez then got out of the car and fired five rounds from a handgun that he had tucked in his waist-band. Doe said that Rodriguez then got back into the vehicle and ordered her to follow the two people as they drove away. Doe said that she did what she was told out of fear for her life.

The affidavit says that Rodriguez refused to answer any questions. 

Prosecutors requested that bond for Rodriguez be set at $100,000, noting that he has a "lengthy criminal history," including violent offenses in Washington.

Rodriguez, 27 years old, is charged with two felony counts of assault with a weapon; one felony count of aggravated kidnapping; and one misdemeanor count of obstructing a peace officer or other public servant.