Oxnard man convicted of sex crimes spanning from 2003 to 2020

OXNARD, Calif. – An Oxnard man was convicted by a jury of three different accounts of sexual assault, dating as far back as 2003 and as recent as 2020, according to Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko.

Rodolfo Fernandez Franco, 41, was convicted of one count of forcible rape, one count of forcible oral copulation, two counts of sodomy by use of force, and one count of assault with the intent to commit rape.

The first two crimes occurred in February of 2003 and the most recent was in December of 2020, according to Nasarenko.

The charge offenses relate to three different assaults on three different victims.

At the scene of the most recent assault, Franco left behind a face mask. DNA testing eventually linked the mask to Franco as well as to one of the 2003 assaults. Further investigation connected him to all three crime scenes.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 29 in the Ventura County Superior Court. Franco faces a maximum possible sentence of 60 years to life, plus four years in state prison, according to the Oxnard Police Department and the District Attorney's Sexual Assault Unit.