News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2002

Taunton Brothers Arrested On Drug Charges

DEC 15--Boston, MA... Two Taunton men were arrested on Friday, December 12, 2003, on federal drug charges.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, announced that IVAN RODRIGUEZ, age 44, and his brother, NESTOR RODRIGUEZ, age 43, both of 14 Spring Street, Taunton, Massachusetts, were arrested on Friday by criminal complaint charging them with conspiring to distribute heroin.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the complaint, the RODRIGUEZ brothers came to the attention of law enforcement in June, 2003, as individuals involved in the trafficking of heroin in southeastern Massachusetts. It is alleged that from June 6, 2003 through August 6, 2003, an undercover DEA Agent made several controlled purchases of heroin from the RODRIGUEZ brothers.

Both defendants appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler on Friday, December 12, 2003. They are being detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday, December 16, 2003 at 2:30 p.m. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release and a $1 million fine.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with the assistance of the Bristol County Sheriff's Department, the Taunton and New Bedford Police Departments and the Massachusetts State Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Levitt in Sullivan's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Unit.