A man from Illinois has been sentenced to federal prison for possession with intent to distribute over four kilograms of cocaine, as announced by U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. Rodrigo Mendez, aged 28, entered a guilty plea on September 1, 2022.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos sentenced Mendez to 78 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The charges stem from an incident on June 23, 2022, when Mendez was stopped at the Border Patrol checkpoint near Sarita while driving a Porsche Cayenne. A K-9 unit alerted officers to search the vehicle, revealing 4.34 kilograms of cocaine concealed inside a battery located under the driver's seat.
The investigation uncovered that Mendez had made ten prior trips transporting narcotics from South Texas to Chicago, Illinois. Authorities also connected him to seven other drug seizures involving similar concealment methods within vehicle batteries; six of these involved cocaine.
Mendez remains in custody and will be transferred to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility soon.
The Drug Enforcement Administration led the investigation with support from Border Patrol agents. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ashley Pruitt and John Marck handled the prosecution.