Judge Denies Felon's Request for Lower Bail

MURRIETA - A judge today denied a request for lower bail for a Lake Elsinore man accused of posing as a licensed contractor and taking customers' money for jobs that he barely started -- and never finished -- before disappearing.

Reynaldo Rodriguez Jr., 31, was arrested Dec. 10 following an investigation by Riverside County sheriff's detectives that culminated in the filing of more than four dozen felony and misdemeanor charges, including grand theft, burglary, contracting without a license, embezzling from an elder or disabled victim and a sentence-enhancing allegation of committing a white-...