Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Wanted Counselor Accused of Sex with 11-Year-Old Girl Nabbed in Mexico

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

A counselor from Texas accused of using her job to have sexual contact with an 11-year-old girl is picked up after nearly nine years on the run in Mexico. Iris Iliana Rodriguez was listed as one of Texas top 10 most wanted fugitives. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with former FBI and CIA agent Tracy Walder about the search for Rodriguez in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show that delves into the biggest stories in crime.HOST:Angenette Levy: twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. One of Texas's 10 most wanted captured in Mexico, she's a former counselor accused of using her job to have a sexual relationship with an 11-year-old girl. I'm Anjanette Levy. It's Wednesday, and this is Crime Fix. Iris Ileana Rodriguez was listed as one of the Lone Star State's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives

until now. Texas Rangers said they got a tip and worked with Interpol to capture her in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Rodriguez had been on the run since January of 2015. She had warrants out for her arrest for three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, three counts of harassment, and one count of unlawful restraint. but later started working for the Border Region Behavioral Health Center and used that position to go into this girl's school as a ruse to visit her. It turns out that's when officials say Rodriguez was abusing the girl. Rodriguez had ties to Mexico, and officials believe that's how she was able to flee. Then last month, Crimestoppers got a tip, and Interpol moved in and nabbed Rodriguez on December 11th. Whoever tipped off police is going to get a reward. Tracy Walder is a former FBI agent and

CIA agent, and she's here to talk with us about the capture of Iris Ileana Rodriguez. Tracy, your first thoughts on this? This woman was on the run for nine years and they catch up with her thanks to a tip. Well, first of all, I'm surprised, quite frankly, that she was on the run for as long as she was. Typically, both people in prison and folks that are tipsters tend to not look favorably upon those who have molested children, quite frankly. I mean, that's really what she did. And I think I am surprised that a tipster took nine-ish years really to come forward. That was what was most surprising to me. What's also surprising to me was that she lasted that long. I mean, obviously she was in another country. She goes from Texas to Mexico. She had connections there, but she was able to

obviously work, possibly hold down a job. She was able to make enough money to live. So somebody who knew something, maybe even a family member or a friend decided to turn her in for reward money. That's correct. Whomever that tipster is, as long as they weren't actively involved with the initial crime, he is going to collect that reward money, $5,000 or $10,000, depending on what they ultimately decide. The issue that I have, and I don't mean to be an alarmist by any sense, is that, as you mentioned before, she could have been working. We don't know for certain what transpired when she was down in Mexico.

My concern is that perhaps she was in contact with children. I don't know what kind of job she had there. Was this behavior being perpetuated? Was this a tip because something had happened to someone? I don't know, but these are all things to sort of think about and consider. One thing that is so disturbing about this case was the fact that this was somebody, according to the accusation, who used her position as a counselor who was supposed to be helping an 11-year-old girl, but instead she was abusing her. And that, to me, is so upsetting because this is a woman, and we've covered a lot of women here on Crime Fix, who are abusing young girls and who are taking advantage of their positions of power,

not only to abuse young girls, I should say, but also young boys. 11 years old. I mean, we're not talking about like a 17-year-old boy or something like that, or a 17-year-old, like a high school student. This is a child. Right. I mean, I guess in essence, she was exploiting her professional role, right, for her own gain in a legal way. You know, this isn't the first time that this has happened. And I think it makes a lot of parents, quite frankly, fearful for those that come around children. I mean, it's my understanding that she was also in schools as well and able to have contact with her victim under the auspices of providing counseling services. I look at my own daughter's teacher when she was three. He's currently serving a 25-year prison

sentence for child pornography charges of boys seven and under. And this was clearly a person who was seeking out that role to be in contact with children. And it's quite frankly, every parent's worst nightmare. It certainly is every parent's worst nightmare. It's been nine years. So now this victim, this accuser is an adult, more than likely 18, 19 years old, somewhere in there, based on the little bit of information we have about the case. How difficult, Tracy, is it to track down somebody when they flee to another country, especially to a country like Mexico? It might be right across the border, but still, this is somebody who had connections in Mexico. So how difficult is it

as a law enforcement agent to do that? It's very difficult, not to be so trite in that response, but it's very difficult. Sometimes Mexico, depending on the crime, depending on our relationship with them, depending on the geopolitical relationship, quite frankly, with them at the time, It can become very tenuous and very much almost like a black hole. I am certain that they worked with the FBI's legal attache office down there, as well as Interpol, which is, you know, the, I guess, international police force, if you will. However, Mexico's law enforcement, as we know, is widely reported, is corrupt. That can become troublesome. So you

have to be very careful with the information you have. For example, with that tip, my guess is they held it very close to the vest so that she wasn't tipped off beforehand by someone who was trying to extort a bribe from her. And so these kinds of things you have to think about in dealing with some of these countries where bribery is acceptable. It makes it really difficult. Hey, everybody. We're going to get back to this episode of Crime Fix in just a sec. But first, I want to tell you about our partner and sponsor for Crime Fix.

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That's correct. So a lot of countries are members of Interpol. And yes, they probably leaned on them quite a bit. Interpol is excellent. All the dealings I have with them, even at CIA, they do tremendous work. And really, they are great, not necessarily in investigating a crime, but in terms of helping with the capture. I think also, too, what most likely helps in this case is Mexico doesn't have the death penalty, and they won't extradite if we have the death penalty on the table. And so that was probably taken off as well, which made the extradition process a lot smoother and a lot quicker. And finally, Tracy, what do you expect to happen with this case? I mean, we know that the allegation involves an 11-year-old girl from years ago, but do you expect possibly further investigation into possible relationships with other students or other children when this woman, Rodriguez, Iris Ileana Rodriguez, was employed with these social service agencies? I actually absolutely think that that will happen. There was a case actually at the school that I used to teach at where it happened 21 plus

years ago that an individual had come forward and talked about allegations that she experienced at the school. There was another case recently actually in Texas where it had been a seven year out in terms of people coming forward with allegations against a teacher. And so I do think a lot of times as kids mature into young adults and then adults, a lot of times they become more comfortable, quite frankly, with speaking out. Tracy Walder, we really appreciate you coming on to talk with us about this. It's a really disturbing story and we'll continue to follow it. And we just hope that the alleged victim, the accuser, has gotten the help that she needs over the years because it just sounds absolutely awful what this child was put through by somebody who was supposed to be helping her. Thank you for having me, Anjanette.

And that's it for Crime Fix on this Wednesday, January 17th, 2024. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Until then, have a great night. You can download Crime Fix on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your favorite podcasts and new episodes post each weeknight at 6 Eastern time on Law and Crime's YouTube channel.

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