Palm Springs CEO charged with murder, hit-and-run released on $2M bail

The CEO of Palm Springs-based Silvercrest Definition was released from custody Thursday on $2 million bail, according to jail records. The statement came a day after William Frank Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to murder in what police called a hit-and-run crash that killed a 60-year-old woman in Cathedral City last year.

Rodriguez was arrested Monday after a warrant was issued at his home in Palm Springs and booked into the Benoit Detention Center in Indio. It was stated that the woman who died in the accident was Christina Barrington from Cathedral City.

In addition to murder, Rodriguez is also charged with hit-and-run causing great bodily injury and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended or revoked license for a prior drunken driving offense.

Police said Rodriguez, now 43, had been drinking at both the Acrisure Arena and two bars in downtown Palm Springs the night before the crash and could be seen on surveillance video stumbling as he left the second bar.

Rodriguez appeared 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 initially held without bail following his arrest. Benjamini was released on bail Wednesday despite prosecutors’ arguments in court that he remains a danger to the public and should remain in custody, according to a report. KESQ’s report.

Rodriguez’s arrest came just over a year later, at 12:46 a.m. on Oct. 11, 2024, when Cathedral City police officers were dispatched to the area of ​​East Palm Canyon Drive and Bankside Drive in reference to a woman and a dog in the roadway. Barrington’s scooter was found about a quarter mile east of him at the intersection of East Palm Canyon Drive and Cathedral Canyon Drive.

Barrington suffered serious injuries and was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center. He died the next day. The dog was injured but survived and was reunited with family members.

During the investigation, police said they “learned the scooter was traveling eastbound on East Palm Canyon Drive when another vehicle rear-ended it.” According to police, they say Barrington was thrown from his scooter because the vehicle dragged the scooter a “significant distance” as he fled the scene.

Police said the Cathedral City Traffic Bureau’s investigation showed that Rodriguez was driving his black 2021 Porsche when he hit the scooter and fled the scene. Investigators said after the crash, Rodriguez turned south onto Cathedral Canyon Drive and “went through some side streets to avoid being caught,” according to court documents filed last week.

Investigators later located the Porsche in the driveway of Rodriguez’s home with damage to the car’s front end and undercarriage “consistent with striking and dragging a scooter.”

Investigators also said they had surveillance footage of Rodriguez consuming alcohol at “several locations” several hours before the crash. Rodriguez was seen leaving Dick’s bar in downtown Palm Springs about 10 minutes before the crash with an “unsteady gait” and “at times staggering consistent with a disability,” according to an affidavit from an investigator supporting 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 statement denying bail. (Eric Clapton performed at the arena that night, October 10.)

“Mr. Rodriguez never reported this collision, even after police impounded his vehicle, but reported to a co-worker that his vehicle was stolen and totaled,” the statement said.

Additionally, Officer Jeffrey Bird of the Cathedral City police wrote in a sworn court document that after the crash, Rodriguez left town for the weekend and went to Las Vegas, where security cameras showed him drinking, including a champagne toast.

Investigators, who said they had evidence that Rodriguez had been driving with a suspended license for more than 10 years, requested a “no bail” order “because of his access to money, consistent travel around the world, prior flight, and failure to accept responsibility for this collision.”

City News Service contributed to this report.

This article first appeared in the Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs CEO released on $2 million bail on murder and hit-and-run charges