DEA Capture of Drug Trafficker Yields Sentence
As criminal defense attorneys, we can only cringe at the fact that the defendant, “Cheke”, plead guilty (admitted his crime), only to be sentenced to 35 years; federal time. It appears that after some investigation, police & federal agents managed to capture Esiquiel Rodriguez with less than 400 grams of meth, and a firearm. There’s more to this defendant however; he was also involved in a larger drug trafficking operation managed by some of the most dangerous drug cartels in Mexico. JUN 04 (SAN ANTONIO) – A former major drug trafficker in the Piedras Negras “Plaza,” 46-year-old Esiquiel Rodriguez (aka “Cheke”), was sentenced in San Antonio today to 420 months in federal prison for federal drug and firearm violations announced DEA Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Acting United States Attorney Richard Durbin, Jr., and San Antonio Police Chief Anthony Treviño. Rodriguez was arrested in April 2013 by the San Antonio Police Department on a charge of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. During a subsequent consensual search of his residence, investigators discovered a .357 caliber revolver. On September 29, 2014, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute over 300 grams of pure methamphetamine and one count of undocumented alien in possession of a firearm. READ MORE Although we aren’t aware of the minute details of the case, why the defendant was so harshly sentenced after pleading guilty & cooperating with the United States Attorney’s Office is an interesting matter of conversation. It begs the questions of […]