Man gets more than 14 years for vandalism, arson in East Bakersfield

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A man who smashed the sunroof of one vehicle and burned a hole in another, causing $16,000 in damage, has been sentenced.

Antonio Rodriguez Jr., 36, was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years and four months in prison, according to court records.

Last month, a jury found him guilty of arson, two counts of felony vandalism and trespassing.

On Feb. 14, 2023, a man went to a newly-acquired property in East Bakersfield and encountered Rodriguez. He asked him to leave.

Rodriguez responded by yelling and throwing trash, prosecutors said. He tried but failed to set a trash can on fire and throw it under the victim’s vehicle.

Then he threw a beer bottle that smashed the vehicle’s sunroof, prosecutors said, causing $6,000 in damage.

Rodriguez was arrested when he returned to the boarded-up property that night.

He returned three days later.

This time he set fire to a piece of cardboard and placed it under the the engine block of a vehicle the victim rented after the first confrontation, prosecutors said. The flame burned a hole in the bottom, causing an estimated $10,000 in damage.

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