Two Sentenced to Prison for 2013 Chumash Casino Stabbing
Osbaldo Hernandez Receives 45 Years, Cherie Rodriguez Seven, in Gang-Related Murder Attempt
Two years after robbing and attempting to stab to death a man in the Chumash Casino parking lot, Osbaldo Hernandez, 38, was sentenced Tuesday to 45 years in prison. His accomplice, Cherie Rodriguez, 32, was sentenced to seven years for assault with a deadly weapon inflicting great bodily harm. In April 2016, both Hernandez and Rodriguez pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the November 2013 stabbing, according to a District Attorney’s Office press release.
Early on November 6, a male Nipomo resident suffering from several stab wounds staggered into the Chumash Casino’s lobby, as The Independent previously reported. According to a Sheriff’s Office statement at the time, the victim was stabbed while inside a vehicle on the reservation. Hernandez (whose first name was initially reported to be “Osvaldo”) and Rodriguez stole his cell phone and wallet and left him for dead.
Later that evening, Rodriguez was arrested following a high-speed pursuit on-and-off Highway 101. Hernandez, a documented gang member, was arrested at a Santa Maria home on November 21. At the time of the stabbing, he was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon, violating a criminal street gang act, and possessing a gun as a felon.
Hernandez’s sentence, issued by Santa Maria Superior Court Judge James Voysey, reflects a special allegation of using a knife and inflicting great bodily injury, according to the District Attorney’s Office press release. During the case, Hernandez admitted to attempting the murder “for the benefit of a criminal street gang.”
District Attorney Joyce Dudley in the same statement praised the Sheriff’s Office investigation. “These two gang members will be removed from our streets and our community will be safer,” she said.
