An activist who risked deportation to Mexico to raise awareness about young adults who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children said his father's arrest on drug charges won't deter him from his fight to change immigration law.
A search warrant served Dec. 1 and made available recently shows that authorities seized three 10-pound bags of marijuana and 9 ounces of cocaine from the home of Jesus Rafael Rodriguez, 44, on Bobs Lake Road in Hamptonville. A detective said the drugs were in a rooster coop on the property.
His son, Martin Rodriguez, 19, lives in the family home. Martin Rodriguez was part of a public protest in September in which he was arrested as he sat in the middle of a Charlotte intersection to draw attention to legislation known as the Dream Act. The proposed federal law would allow young, educated immigrants to change their immigration status and go to college or join the military.
Martin Rodriguez, who is an honors high school graduate and a student at Forsyth Technical Community College, was brought illegally into the U.S. from Mexico as a child. He is a member of El Cambio, a group of young people in Yadkin County pushing for the Dream Act. Members of the group declined to comment or did not return calls.
Authorities said there is no evidence that Martin Rodriguez or other family members were involved in the alleged drug dealing that landed Jesus Rafael Rodriguez in jail. Jesus, who is sometimes known as "Ralph," is in the Yadkin jail under a $75,000 secured bond. He is charged with seven felony counts related to cocaine or marijuana in Yadkin and with 28 felony counts related to cocaine and methamphetamine in Wilkes County, according to court records.
The family home is in Yadkin, just east of the county line. Authorities say Jesus Rodriguez sold the drugs in Wilkes.
Martin Rodriguez said his father is not guilty.
"He's one of the nicest people you'd ever meet," he said. "Personally, this whole thing, I really do think they have the wrong person. I don't know how involved he was, if at all. We're working on finding the best attorney we can possibly get."
Lt. Craig Dancy of the Wilkes County Sheriff's Office narcotics unit, said an undercover officer purchased 253 grams of cocaine with a street value of $10,800 and 56 grams of methamphetamine with a street value of $2,400 from Jesus Rodriguez in October and November.
Dancy said Rodriguez claimed to have connections to a Mexican drug cartel. Dancy said there's no evidence family members knew drugs were there.
"He hid them outside," Dancy said. "All the drugs were found outside. He kept roosters, and he had (the drugs) out in the rooster houses."
Dancy said the cocaine that officers seized at the home had an estimated street value of $10,800, the marijuana $39,000.
Dancy said that as far as authorities can tell, Jesus Rodriguez is in the U.S. legally, although they still have questions about that. Rodriguez was one of the larger sources of illegal drugs in Wilkes, Dancy said, and had been selling drugs for at least five years.
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