OAKLAND — Next week a judge is scheduled to decide whether to release a 19-year-old woman who is charged with murder for allegedly distracting a driver while her pimp ran up and shot the man during an attempted carjacking, court records show.
Nelly Rodriguez-Diaz is moving to be released from jail while the case is pending. A recent motion filed by her lawyer describes her as a “sweet, kind, and gentle young woman” who was diagnosed with a learning disability in school and was the victim of human trafficking. It is backed up by several support letters by Rodriguez-Diaz’s family members and friends.
“My daughter is so sweet, she cleans the house and helps me. She loves to cook. She likes to invent soups, pastas, she cooks very good,” Teresa Diaz, Rodriguez-Diaz’s mother, wrote in one support letter.
Rodriguez-Diaz’s lawyer places the blame for the Aug. 10 homicide almost entirely on Rodriguez-Diaz’s co-defendant and alleged trafficker, Shawn’t Lowe, who turned 19 after his arrest on a murder warrant.
“Ms. Rodriguez was unarmed and she did not expect Mr. Lowe to use a weapon during the taking of the car,” the defense motion says. “Ms. Rodriguez is horrified to have participated in an incident that led to someone’s death.”
Rodriguez-Diaz, Lowe and a third woman had been in the area east of Lake Merritt to show Rodriguez-Diaz the ropes of commercial sex work, the motion says, adding that both Lowe and the still-unidentified other woman were trafficking Rodriguez-Diaz. When their car broke down, they allegedly attempted to steal a vehicle from a passing motorist.
Rodriguez-Diaz and the woman allegedly flagged down a vehicle being driven by 47-year-old Alfonso Najera-Hernandez. When he slowed down, Lowe attempted to steal the car, then shot Najera-Hernandez during a brief struggle, according to police. The three suspects are seen on surveillance video fleeing on foot after the shooting.
The incident occurred on the 1500 block of 12th Avenue at E. 15th Street, described by Oakland police as a known hangout for sex workers.
The homicide is one of several recent violent incidents in high-prostitution areas that has led to an increasing police response. These include multiple shootings, including homicides, sexual assaults of sex workers, robberies and documented incidents of human trafficking. Oakland police have responded with undercover sting operations and plain clothes patrols on International Boulevard and other areas known for the commercial sex trade.
Police area also using a municipal code against “immoral dress” — as well as a state law aimed at protecting children who are at risk of harm — to detain suspected human trafficking victims and attempt to learn the names of their pimps.
On Aug. 27, for instance, police detained a girl who turned out to have run away from home in Los Angeles County, after an officer observed her wearing lingerie on 16th Avenue and International Boulevard, authorities said. She allegedly attempted to run from the officers, who say they treated her as a victim after catching her.
On Sept. 13, undercover officers pulled over a vehicle driving erratically with its lights off, searched the car after observing an open container of marijuana, and seized a loaded gun from inside, court records show. The 21-year-old driver now faces two misdemeanor gun possession charges.
Last May, an undercover officer detained a 17-year-old girl who allegedly offered to perform a sex act on him for $100. Police later determined she’d been trafficked in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Oakland, and passed around between multiple pimps, two of whom were later arrested in Nevada, court records show.
