FRIDAY UPDATE: We suppose it’s fair to say that Joshua Jered Rodriguez’s message was received. As The Arvada Press reports, Rodriguez is in the hands of law enforcement and is now working on his campaign narrative from the Jefferson County Jail.
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The Arvada Press reports on an unusual candidacy for Congress in the new eighth congressional district involving a guy who police would actually really like to find:
A man who has previously ran for mayor in Arvada has declared his candidacy in the 2022 Congressional District 8 race despite facing an active arrest warrant stemming from multiple felony charges.
Joshua Jered Rodriguez, 37, launched a campaign website with a donations page and signed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Feb. 4 listing an Arvada address that Jefferson County property records show was sold to a different owner in 2021.
Rodriguez was charged with nine counts of identity theft, one count of forgery and one count of cybercrime (attempt) in Oct. of 2020 and two counts of attempting to influence a public servant in Dec. of 2020 after he attempted to set up multiple fraudulent GoFundMe pages in the name of Julia Vitanyi, the moderator of the popular Arvada Neighbors Facebook group.
Rodriguez did not attend his scheduled court appearance on May 5, 2021 and a warrant for his arrest was issued on May 10, 2021. His whereabouts are still unknown to law enforcement as of Feb. 15.
Arvada Police Department Public Information Officer Dave Snelling said that anyone with information on Rodriguez’s location should contact law enforcement authorities. [Pols emphasis]
Well, that’s a first. We’ve been writing about Colorado politics for a very long time, and we can’t recall another candidate for office who was literally wanted by the police. We’ve seen our fair share of criminals involved in the political scene — hell, there’s one running for Secretary of State RIGHT NOW — but never someone who was actively evading law enforcement at the same time they were launching a campaign.
Joshua Jered Rodriguez filed paperwork with the FEC as a candidate for CO-08 with the Unity Party, though his campaign is likely technically illegal in the first place because he lists his voting address as a house that he hasn’t lived at since 2021. Should he continue forward, Rodriguez might have to come up with a new way of campaigning “virtually.” House parties and door-to-door knocking aren’t great options for wanted (alleged) criminals.
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Why isn't he running on the same ticket with Tina Peters?
Seems like he might be testing some boundaries around the "any press is good press" thing, but these are different times!
Talk about huge brass balls.
Huge brass balls my eye. More like delusional psychopathic con man behavior. Gee, I wonder where he learned that over the last half-decade.
Joshua Jered Rodriguez was on my radar in 2020. He is a right wing provocateur, as well as a con man. He has run for several local offices, and scammed an Arvada charity, which is what the current criminal charges are about.
He and his friend Joseph Camp, a former criminal, security guard, and US Senate candidate, have harassed several local black officials and activists.
Rodiguez threatened to sue Kyle Clark of 9 News, as well, after Clark videotaped Rodriguez’ friend and fellow provocateur, Joey Camp, vandalizing city property, ostensibly for a Black Lives Matter protest. Evidence and background links are in my linked comment, or on social media.
His website is stomach- churning when you know the background- he claims to have brought 10,000 pounds of food to Arvada, claims to run the “One Arvada” nonprofit, and claims to be a “quantum computer” scientist. None of this is true. He took over a successful Arvada food bank, and began siphoning off donations from it. He is a con man, a liar, and a thief.
Rodriguez is polishing his progressive reputation on social media, but is still the same opportunistic a- hole he has shown himself to be.
Rodriguez has run for several offices in Colorado and his native Arizona, as the Unity party candidate, as a write-in candidate, and now as a Democrat.
ActBlue has an active donations page for his CD8 run. It will be interesting to see if he shows up for the CD8 debate on February 21st.
We've got a full slate of "We wish they weren't our candidates" this year.
Mr. Slimeball Rodriguez sued me in Jeffco civil district court(case#2020cv100) and lost, I have a judgement against him that he refuses to pay. He tried to criminally impersonated me during the lawsuit, and is running from the charges. He has several felony warrants in Jefferson County. Joshua “Slimeball” Jered Rodriguez needs to be held accountable. I am shocked that he still seeks a political seat, he is a danger to any community. He needs a mental evaluation too.
"Smileball" is a new one on me…unless it's just a typo…😁
Darn autocorrect! Ha. Smileball sounds too nice for him.
Yeah, he's definitely not playing smileball. Though that sounds like a good game for us sane folks!
JVitanyi,
Thank you for suing the slimeball JJR. Thanks to you and other people following up on his shenanigans, he was arrested yesterday.
This jerk literally made money diverting donations meant for food relief for hungry Arvadans into his own pocket. He also took over two grass roots organizations, the Giving Table, and Your neighbor website, purely to build his cred for a future run to elected office. The food banks were working and feeding folks until JJR ran them into the ground.
Anyway, thank you for being a responsible citizen. You are appreciated.
Voting domicile is sort of an odd duck. His could very well be voting from a house that was sold to someone else.
People can keep the same voting registration location even if they move — for example, there are a number of US military who registered and then were transferred overseas. They could continue voting from that same address unless they establish another residence or voting location. I also met an oilfield worker who had a 2-week-on, 2-week-off oil platform job. His weeks off he would visit family & friends, or go on vacation somewhere. He continued voting from his last residence, an apartment that he no longer leased.
Secretary of State FAQ puts it this way:
He looks like Dave Williams' clone. With a beard.
I am wondering how the hell today’s Colorado Republican party missed out on recruiting this guy. He’s everything they stand for!
I doubt that JJR has any politics at all beyond “ Will this help me be rich and famous, or not?”
Remind you of anyone?
Hopefully this knob will have the opportunity to pull a Jim Traficant by running from prison.
Someone else may be doing that in 2024.
I wonder which Central American or South American countries will host the Trump family for an extended "vacation" at next year. Reminds me of a similar character 50 years ago — Robert Vesco
I'm visualizing that famous photo of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos getting off the US military jet in Hawaii carrying those Pampers boxes filled with gold, silver and diamonds they looted when they left the Philippines in 1986.
She did have to leave most of her shoes behind. Sacrifices had to be made.
I, too, have been wondering to where Fat Donnie and the Krime Kids would relocate when it comes to that choice.
Don't they have associates in North Korea, the Mideast, and Russia? With the love they seem to don't have for "brown" people, the Hispanic world might not be a good choice.😬
Maybe Putin will put them up in his billion dollar "Dacha". Birds of a Feather