Case # 14WF4214
Date: November 18, 2014
MAN TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES STABBING-MURDER OF CAFÉ EMPLOYEE WHILE VICTIM WAS CLEANING BUSINESS
WESTMINSTER – A man is scheduled to be arraigned today for the special circumstances stabbing-murder of a café employee while the victim was cleaning the business. Robert Gabriel Rodgers, 20, Anaheim, is charged with one felony count of special circumstances murder while lying in wait with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. The special circumstances in this case make Rodgers eligible for the death penalty and the District Attorney will make this determination at a later date. Rodgers is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in Department W-2, West Justice Center, Westminster.
On the morning of Nov. 14, 2014, Rodgers is accused of entering the Volcano Tea House in Garden Grove prior to the business opening. He is accused of stabbing 24-year-old employee Cesar Ramirez-Raphael multiple times as the victim was cleaning the business. The victim died as a result of multiple stab wound injuries. A citizen outside of the business locked the defendant inside the café until the Garden Grove Police Department (GGPD) arrived and arrested the defendant.
GGPD investigated this case. This is an ongoing investigation and no other details are being released about this case at this time.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Herrera of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.