Texas man gets 34-year sentence for cocaine trafficking in Rankin County
RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. — A Texas man was sentenced to 34 years in prison after a Rankin County jury convicted him of aggravated trafficking of cocaine, District Attorney Bubba Bramlett announced Tuesday.
Jorge Rodriguez, 36, of El Paso, Texas, was convicted following a trial in Rankin County Circuit Court and was ordered to serve the sentence day-for-day in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections without the possibility of parole.
The conviction stems from a traffic stop on Interstate 20 conducted by the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department Criminal Interdiction Unit. Deputies, assisted by a K-9 unit, discovered approximately 12 kilograms of cocaine concealed in the trunk of the vehicle Rodriguez was occupying; authorities said the drugs were hidden inside a tire that did not belong to the vehicle.
Prosecutors also presented testimony from a special agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety who said Rodriguez sold him four ounces of cocaine about two months before the Rankin County arrest while the agent was working undercover. “This was not a small amount of drugs or a close call — this was large-scale trafficking,” Bramlett said in a statement. The district attorney’s office credited the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory for their roles in the investigation and prosecution.
