A Waukesha alderman running as a Democrat for Wisconsin Assembly has confirmed that top leaders in the Democratic Party knew a year ago that a convicted child sex offender was serving as vice chair of its Latino Caucus and was planning to run for Assembly himself. Party leaders, though, remained silent and allowed Diego Rodriguez to continue in his position, manage two Democrats’ campaigns, and knock on doors for several others.
“It is with disappointment that I make this statement publicly: Upon learning of Mr. Rodriguez’s
criminal past in November of 2025, I distanced myself, advised others to do the same, and
warned colleagues about Mr. Rodriguez’s criminal history, and those warnings went unheeded,” Waukesha Alderman Rico Camacho said in a news release.
Camacho, who is running in the 82nd Assembly District against Republican Bryson Reyes, alleged that despite his warnings, the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee (ADCC) and Democratic Party of Wisconsin remained silent about Rodriguez’s background and the potential danger he posed to children with whom he would come into contact while working on campaigns.
“Elected officials and candidates he has been confirmed to work with and be on payroll for…knew about his criminal history prior to beginning a professional relationship, and now have only come out against Mr. Rodriguez because they are being held accountable,” Camacho said. “That is methodical deception.”
Rodriguez was convicted in 2016 of using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and sentenced to five years in prison followed by five years of extended supervision. Prosecutors also charged him with three counts of sexual activity with a child 16 or older, which were dismissed but read into the record as part of a plea agreement.
Investigators said Rodriguez used the dating app Grindr to arrange meetings with multiple teenage boys and had sexual contact with them at his home and in an alley behind a Target store in Waukesha. He was arrested after arranging to meet someone he believed was a 15-year-old boy but was actually a Waukesha police detective conducting a sting.
After his conviction, Rodriguez was placed on Wisconsin’s sex offender registry, where he is required to remain until 2040.
In spite of this, Rodriguez planned to run for Assembly by primarying Democratic Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez in the 8th Assembly District and even moved into the district in December in preparation for a run. The ADCC knew about this and did not object, even though Camacho says he told party leaders that Rodriguez was a convicted child sex offender.
Multiple legislative sources told The Heartland Post that it was only when Ismael Luna, who launched a run for the 8th Assembly District and defeated Ortiz-Velez in the August primary, told the ADCC that Rodriguez would be unelectable because of his crimes that the ADCC threw its support behind Luna.
Remarkably, Luna still allowed Rodriguez to knock doors for him ahead of the August primary and pretended to first learn about Rodriguez’s crimes after The Heartland Post reported on them last week.
Once Luna secured the Democratic Party’s blessing to run in the 8th Assembly District, Rodriguez turned his attention to campaign management through his consulting firm Adelante Consulting, LLC. Campaign finance records reveal that he ran the campaigns of Democratic Rep. Sylvia Prado and candidate Kevin Reilly.
Rodriguez ran Reilly’s campaign until Reilly dropped out citing family concerns in May. He than began managing Prado’s campaign until she fired him minutes after “The Dan O’Donnell Show” highlighted Rodriguez’s criminal history on statewide radio last week. That same afternoon, Democratic Party of Wisconsin said Rodriguez was no longer its Latino Caucus vice chair.
Rodriguez had also worked for Democratic Waukesha Mayor Alicia Halvensleben’s campaign this Spring as well as Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez’s gubernatorial campaign, which ended in a campaign finance scandal in July.
Everyone who responded to requests for comment on Rodriguez, including the ADCC, said they had just learned of Rodriguez’s crimes, but Camacho confirms that this is a lie.
“I regret that the actions and reckless behavior of Mr. Rodriguez has brought negative light to the
organizations he associated with– to be clear– this was not the responsibility of rank and file
members with any caucus, organization, or campaign he worked for,” he said. “This was the responsibility
of leadership representing these respective organizations and campaigns, and this behavior
cannot be excused.”
