Freddy Rodriguez presiding over a recent Ontario City Council meeting. (Liliana Frankel/The Enterprise)
ONTARIO – Freddy Rodriguez, an Ontario city councilor, has requested a court hearing to contest a restraining order issued against him last month, the second such order to be brought against him in the past year related to domestic violence.
In her January court filing, a local woman said in sworn statements that Rodriguez, 39, had “caused me physical injury, tried to cause me physical injury, (and) made me fear that I was about to be physically injured.”
Her petition was granted by Malheur Circuit Court Judge Lung Hung.
The Enterprise does not identify victims of domestic abuse.
In paperwork filed with the Malheur County Circuit Court, Rodriguez indicated that he was requesting a hearing to oppose “the order restraining me from contacting, threatening or attempting to contact the petitioner.”
Rodriguez’s filing also indicates that he is seeking to use the hearing to litigate ownership of a dog, Unicorn, who was originally his, but who, according to text messages submitted as part of the victim’s filing, he once gifted to the petitioner.
As part of the restraining order, Hung found that “to prevent neglect and protect the safety of animals kept for service, therapy, protection or companionship” he was ordering that “the dog named Unicorn will remain with the petitioner.”
In Rodriguez’s request for a hearing, he wrote that he was opposing “the custody order – (custody of my family’s companion Unicorn who was openly kept from us when asked to return her, agreement was to return her as soon as my family was housed).”
Rodriguez remains under the conditions of an earlier restraining order that prohibits his contact with another Ontario woman. Rodriguez had failed in his efforts last year to get that order lifted.
News tip? Contact reporter Liliana Frankel at [email protected] or 267-981-5577.
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