A 51-year-old Mexican national was sentenced Dec. 18 in U.S. District Court in Seattle to nine years in prison for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of heroin with intent to distribute.
Jose L. Rodriquez was arrested in April 2009 at a Kent Safeway store parking lot as he prepared to sell multiple-ounce quantities of cocaine and heroin, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office media release. Rodriquez had drugs in his possession and stashed in his car. Police discovered nearly a kilo of cocainein his car.
The Auburn Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives investigated the case.
Rodriquez had prior drug convictions from Yakima County (1987), Snohomish County (1997) and King County (2006). The United States deported Rodriquez after two of those convictions, but he quickly returned to the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones spoke to Rodriquez at the sentencing.
“You’ve been deported and elected to return… the primary reason you came back and chose drug trafficking was the allure of the lifestyle,” Jones said.
Andrew Colasurdo, an assistant U.S. attorney, told the judge that Rodriquez was a long-time drug dealer who had dealt significant amounts of drugs and returned after being deported to deal even larger amounts of drugs.
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