Shoreline Gang Member Sentenced for Drug and Gun Crimes

Andres Rene Rodriguez of Shoreline was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 40 months in prison and three years of supervised release for nine counts related to drug trafficking and gun possession. 

The 25-year-old Rodriguez was convicted March 3, 2011.  The jury deliberated about five hours following a two day trial.

According to records filed in the case and testimony at trial, in October and November of 2010, Rodriguez sold oxycodone on three different occasions to a person working with law enforcement. 

When agents and officers arrested Rodriguez and searched his apartment on Nov. 26, 2010, they found additional oxycodone about six inches away from a loaded handgun.  The serial number on the handgun had been obliterated.  Rodriguez is a convicted felon, and thus was prohibited from possessing a firearm.  The search of the apartment also turned up cocaine.

Court records show that Rodriguez is a member of the Sureno 13 street gang.  According to records of the King County Sheriff’s Office Gang Unit, Rodriguez has been involved in multiple incidents of gang-related activity.

The jury convicted Rodriguez of three counts of distribution of oxycodone, possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine, being a felon in possession of a firearm, two counts of being a felon in possession of ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. 

Charges of possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and maintaining drug-involved premises were dismissed, and the jury acquitted Rodriguez of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

In a request for a six and a half year prison sentence, prosecutors wrote to the court, “This case will be Rodriguez’s fourteenth conviction since age fourteen.  The Government hopes that it will be a turning point for Rodriguez.  That hope about who Rodriguez may become, however, should be tempered with realism about who Rodriguez is: a dedicated gang member and an armed, professional drug dealer.  He is in the most dangerous class of people that come before this court for sentencing.”

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with the assistance of officers from the Seattle Police Department, Shoreline Police Department and King County Sheriff’s Office.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mike Dion and Sunni Ko.

-Source, U.S. Department of Justice