Pismo Beach man sentenced to 8 years for stabbing, killing friend

November 18, 2025

Andrew Rodriguez

By KAREN VELIE

The 35-year-old Pismo Beach man who stabbed and killed his friend pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced this week to eight years in prison. The crime was initially filed as second-degree murder, but additional investigation led to the manslaughter charge and the eight year prison sentence.

Andrew Frederick Rodriguez and the murder victim, 39-year-old Jonathan Campbell Perez, worked together at Giuseppe’s in Pismo Beach – Rodriguez as a supervisor and Perez as a bartender. On the evening of Sept. 11, the men spent time together at Perez’s home on the 1200 block of Price Street.

Shortly after 9 p.m., Rodriguez stabbed Perez, who died at the scene.

Rodriguez then drove southbound on Highway 101 towards Ventura County where he cut his neck and then jumped off a pier into the Pacific Ocean in a suicide attempt.

While the maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter is four years, it was doubled to eight years based on Rodriguez’s criminal history. In 2009, Rodriguez was arrested and later found guilty of sexual intercourse with an intoxicated victim, sexual penetration of an unconscious victim and one felony count of burglary in 2010.