Santa Ana City Councilman Johnathan Hernandez is a champion of “just cause” eviction protections that make excessively difficult to evict tenants, and was a key vote in enacting the city’s “just cause” eviction ordinance in 2021. Hernandez has painted himself as a strong advocate for laws that protect tenants from arbitrary and capricious eviction.
However, before being elected to city council in 2020, the progressive political activist and “just cause” eviction proponent was employing various harsh measures to evict his then-girlfriend, Alicia Rodriguez, from the apartment they shared.
They were both on the lease. Hernandez filed for a temporary restraining order and took her apartment keys from her without her consent – a backdoor method of eviction known colloquially as “self-help” eviction – which is illegal in California.
READ: JOHNATHAN HERNANDEZ TRO REQUEST
READ: ALICIA RODRIGUZ RESPONSE TO TRO REQUEST
Hernandez filed the “Request for Domestic Violence Restraining Order” in January 31, 2017 against his girlfriend Alicia Rodriguez. They were living together with Hernandez’s daughter, who was 7-years old at the time.
In his TRO application, Hernandez’s version of events was that he and Rodriguez had broken up and “had a move out on January 25, 2017.”
“She recently contacted my landlord requesting a key to enter” the apartment. Hernandez wrote told the court Rodriguez had her belongings but “will not stop harassing me.”
“She is likely to enter my home and take my belongings if I do no have this protection. My daughter and I do not feel safe with her having access to our home.”
He also complained that his ex-girlfriend called him for help with a flat tire and “obliged mistakenly.”
“I let her stay the night at my house and stated I could no longer be with her. The following day, out of spite, she reported my phone as stolen.”
Rodriguez, in her response, offered a very different perspective.
Here’s Rodriguez’s account of what Hernandez’s blandly implies what a mutually agreed upon “move out”:
On 01/25/17, I got home from work about 7:00 p.m.. I completed [Hernandez’s daughter’s] homework, put away laundry, and as he got home, I was about to eat. He is OCD and began to sweep. I was never told to pick up the trash from the ground but he began to curse at me and tell me to ‘shut up’ as he has done so many times.
I told him not talk to me like that, especially in front of his daughter. I went to the bedroom, removed myself from the situation because he has a very bad temper.
[Hernandez] unlocked the door and would not leave me alone. He was telling me I was not a true woman, that I was dumb for going to college and cursing at me. I did state that I would leave to stop the abuse but he took and hid my car keys. He said I could not leave without the “house keys.” He says he would call the cops if I did not give him the house keys.
Rodriguez wrote that at that point, Hernandez followed through with his threat and called the police.
The officers at the scene told [Hernandez] that he had to give me my car keys and house keys.
I am not an aggressive nor have I harassed him. I have not been in contact with/ him since the night he invited me to our house after work on Thursday. He got upset with me because I did not want to have sex with him.
When he requested a TRO, Hernandez claimed Rodriguez had her belongings. She stated in her response that was not the case.
I got some of my belongings [but] not all. I e-mailed him on Sunday to arrange a day to pick up my belongings. He did not respond.
Hernandez told the court she “would not sop harassing me.” According to Rodriguez, the harassment was the other way around:
He then began to call my work over 15 times. I e-mailed him to only contact me via e-mail. On Monday evening after he called my work over 15 times.
Hernandez told the court he insisted to Rodriguez their relationship was over. She had a different account:
“I picked up the call. He explained he went to counseling and he wanted to get back with me. He said he was sorry for all the pain he has caused me. I told him various times I could not stay in this cycle of abuse any longer. I told him I forgave him but he and I were not going to get back together.
Rodriguez also furnished a critical fact that Hernandez omitted:
I also told him since we were both on the lease and he forcefully took my keys from me work, I was entitled to get my belongings.
In other words, Hernandez was evicting Rodriguez, according to her statement. She continued:
He was upset I was going to pick up furniture that I purchased. Now, since I told him I was going to the apartment, he has filed a petition against me that is false.
Rodriguez told Hernandez she would not give him her key to the apartment (of which she was a lessee) until she’d retrieved her things.
I have video and witnesses that Johnathan [Hernandez] came to my workplace without advance notice and asked to speak to me. We went to the parking lot and I told him until I get my belongings, I can’t give back the keys. He went into my office, got my purse and took out my house keys.
Johnathan and I are both on the lease. I am still on the lease. On Sunday, I sent an e-mail to the landlord requesting to be removed. She said unless there is a court order, I am on the lease.
Rodriguez went on to write that Hernandez was still harassing her at work.
Your honor, I have been in a cycle of violence with an individual that is controlling and manipulative. I have done everything I could to resolve it amicably. I have never shown up unannounced nor have I done anything against him. I would like to have this not granted, as I have not done anything against him.
This is a break up – difficult for both of us. Thank you.
The court did not grant Hernandez’s TRO.
But it is difficult to miss the chasm between Hernandez’s “just cause eviction” advocacy for tenants in abstraction, and his energetic striving to misuse the court system to evict his girlfriend – who had equal right to the apartment – when it suited his needs.
