The CEO of Palm Springs-based Silvercrest Advertising was released from custody on $2 million bail Thursday, jail records show. The release came a day after William Frank Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to murder in what police call a hit-and-run crash that killed a 60-year-old woman in Cathedral City last year.
Rodriguez was arrested and booked into the Benoit Detention Center in Indio on Monday after a warrant was served at his Palm Springs residence. The woman who died in the crash is Christina Barrington of Cathedral City.
Along with murder, Rodriguez is charged with hit-and-run resulting in great bodily injury and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended or revoked driver’s license stemming from a prior DUI conviction.
William “Billy” Rodriguez speaks at an event Oct. 19, 2024, eight days after police say he struck and killed a woman, then fled the scene.
Police say Rodriguez, now 43, had been drinking the night before the crash, both at Acrisure Arena and at two bars in downtown Palm Springs, and can be seen seen on surveillance video stumbling as he left the second bar.
Rodriguez was arraigned Wednesday before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Friday, Oct. 24, at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Rodriguez was held without bail initially upon his arrest. Benjamini granted him bail Wednesday despite prosecutors’ arguments in court that he remains a danger to the public and should stay in custody, according to a report by KESQ.
Rodriguez’s arrest came a little over a year to the day after, at 12:46 a.m. Oct. 11, 2024, Cathedral City police officers were dispatched to the area of East Palm Canyon Drive and Bankside Drive regarding a woman and a dog down in the roadway. Barrington’s scooter was found approximately 1,400 feet east of her, near the intersection of East Palm Canyon Drive and Cathedral Canyon Drive.
Barrington sustained significant injuries and was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center. She died the following day. The dog was injured, but survived and was reunited with family members.
During their investigation, police said they “learned the scooter was traveling eastbound East Palm Canyon Drive when another vehicle struck it from behind.” They say Barrington was thrown from her scooter as the vehicle dragged the scooter “a significant distance” while fleeing the scene, according to police.
Police say the Cathedral City Traffic Bureau’s investigation showed Rodriguez was driving his black 2021 Porsche when he struck the scooter and fled the scene. After the collision, investigators said Rodriguez turned south onto Cathedral Canyon Drive and “drove through some side streets to avoid capture,” according to court documents filed last week.
Investigators then located the Porsche in the driveway of Rodriguez’s home, with damage to the car’s front end and undercarriage “consistent with striking a scooter and dragging it.”
Investigators also said surveillance footage was found of Rodriguez consuming alcohol at “several locations” in the hours before the crash. Rodriguez was seen leaving the bar Dick’s in downtown Palm Springs about 10 minutes before the crash with an “unsteady gait” and “staggering at times consistent with being impaired,” according to an investigator’s declaration in support of the arrest warrant.
Earlier in the evening, Rodriguez attended a concert at Acrisure Arena where he shared a bottle of vodka with four to five other people in a suite, according to an investigator’s declaration in support of no bail. (Eric Clapton performed at the arena that night, Oct. 10.)
“Mr. Rodriguez never reported this collision, even after police impounded his vehicle, though he reported to a co-worker that his vehicle was stolen and wrecked,” the declaration states.
Additionally, Rodriguez left town the weekend after the crash and went to Las Vegas, where surveillance video likewise shows him drinking, including an apparent champagne toast, Officer Jeffrey Bird of Cathedral City police wrote in a sworn court document.
The investigators, who said they had evidence that Rodriguez has been driving with a suspended license for over 10 years, requested the “no bail” designation “given (his) access to funds, his consistent worldwide travel, his prior flight, and his failure to take responsibility for this collision.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs CEO charged with murder, hit-and-run released on $2M bail
