The homes of two San Mateo County residents who served as jurors in an armed robbery trial last week were allegedly visited by the defendant, leading to a mistrial in the case and additional charges, according to prosecutors.
On Tuesday last week, Rommel Mobo Narvaez, a 24-year-old San Francisco resident, allegedly visited the homes of jurors in Redwood City and Burlingame during his trial, which was related to charges from back in 2013, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe and the Bay City News service.
In one case, a juror’s teenage daughter found Narvaez peeking in the window of the home after she got out of the shower, prosecutors said. In another case, he left a written note at the home “seeking to meet and talk about what she thought of the case,” Wagstaffe told a writer for Bay City News.
“After four days of jury trial, the defendant violated court order by contacting two jurors (an alternate juror and a juror who had been excused,” Wagstaffe said, later telling a BCN writer that jury tampering cases are rare in the county.
A mistrial was declared in the robbery case and new charges were filed of jury tampering, violating a court order and prowling. On Wednesday, he is set to enter a plea on the new charges. The following day, he has a court date to set a new trial date in the robbery case. He remains in custody on no-bail status.
Narvaez gained media attention at the time of his 2013 arrest, when he was shot by police in San Francisco’s Marina district after allegedly pointing a firearm at them. The officer-involved shooting followed an altercation between Narvaez and a man he allegedly tried to rob in the area. Narvaez allegedly met the man through a Craigslist ad to buy an iPhone, then pistol-whipped him and fired his gun — which happened to be loaded with blanks — during the attempted robbery. He is also accused of similar incidents in Daly City in which he lured victims through Craigslist.
