A Kern County man accused of defrauding the California unemployment system out of hundreds of thousands of dollars has pleaded no contest to felony charges. Ruben Rodriguez entered the plea last week to two counts of making a false statement regarding unemployment compensation and preparing a false insurance claim. Rodriguez was arrested in 2023 for allegedly defrauding the state’s Employment Development Department. Maria Mendoza is also implicated in the alleged scheme and has a status conference scheduled on Rodriguez’s sentencing date which is March 14.