Chubbuck man facing life in prison for sexual assault

CHUBBUCK — A 46-year-old Chubbuck man was arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman while she was asleep.

Jaime Jucek Rodriguez was charged with felony forcible penetration by use of a foreign object and felony battery with intent to commit a serious felony.

On July 20, just before 6 a.m., dispatch with the Chubbuck Police Department received a call from a woman saying a relative had molested her female relative.

When officers arrived, the reporting party stated she had gotten a call from the victim, who was “crying and could barely speak to her.”

The victim had reportedly been sexually assaulted by a man identified as Rodriguez.

Officers spoke to the victim, an adult woman under 21.

According to the victim, Rodriguez had been drinking alcohol the night before and kept asking her if she wanted to drink with him, to which she declined multiple times.

She told police she “did not drink with (Rodriguez) whatsoever.”

Later, the victim says, she went to the bedroom she was staying in and fell asleep on the bed. Around 5 a.m., she says she woke up to Rodriguez sexually assaulting her.

The victim told officers she was “in shock and felt extremely scared.” She reportedly tried to push Rodriguez off of her, but he said, “nobody is going to know about this, you’re fine.”

According to the victim, another friend was in the same room asleep and began to wake up.

Rodriguez reportedly started trying to “cuddle and console” the victim, but once he realized the other friend was waking up, he “stood up quickly and began to zip up his pants, buckle his belt, and button up his shirt.”

The victim told officers that once the friend woke up, Rodriguez pretended as if nothing had happened and asked them “if they wanted to drink more alcohol,” according to court documents.

The victim says she did not respond, and the friend said they did not want to drink.

The friend asked why Rodriguez was in the room with them, and he reportedly responded that he was “just telling her about going fishing and swimming the following day.”

After Rodriguez left the room, the victim called a relative who came to get her and brought her to contact law enforcement.

The victim told police she was willing to have a rape kit done and then went to a local hospital to complete it.

During an interview with the reporting party, the woman told police that around 4:30 a.m., Rodriguez had woken her up in the camping trailer she was sleeping in outside. The woman says Rodriguez seemed “highly intoxicated” and told her he had fought with his wife and gotten locked out of the home.

Rodriguez reportedly left the camper after about 30 minutes and went back inside.

Around 5:20 a.m., the woman received two text messages from the victim stating, “are you awake” and “please.” She then answered a call from the victim and ran into the home to find her.

When she found the victim, she was reportedly “standing, facing a wall and crying.”

As they were leaving, Rodriguez asked the woman and the victim what was happening, and the woman responded that she didn’t know. Rodriguez’s wife then reportedly asked him, “What did you do?”

A few hours later, officers spoke to Rodriguez, who said he wished to remain silent and did not want to talk to them. The officer asked to speak to Rodriguez’s wife, who also declined to talk.

Officers were later contacted again by the reporting party, who said she was receiving text messages from Rodriguez saying, “sorry,” among other things.

A warrant was issued for Rodriguez’s arrest on August 4, and he was booked into the Bannock County Jail with a bond of $50,000, and a no-contact order was issued for the victim. He posted bail and was released on August 7.

Rodriguez is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on August 21. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.

Though Rodriguez has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.