Jorge Rodriguez-Martinez has been sentenced to federal prison for his role in distributing multiple kilograms of methamphetamine in the metro Atlanta area.
“Methamphetamine traffickers pose a grave threat to our communities and peddle these dangerous drugs in total disregard of the lives they place at risk,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “Thanks to the coordinated and tireless efforts of our federal and state partners, Rodriguez-Martinez will now be held accountable for his crimes.”
“Our communities remain under attack by drug traffickers with no regard for the harm and destruction they cause,” said Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division. “DEA will continue to bring to justice the drug traffickers who drive addiction and destroy our communities.”
“Under DEA leadership, the federal, state and local agencies assigned to the Atlanta Carolinas work tirelessly to thwart this poison from impacting so many communities in North Georgia,” said Dan Salter, Director of the Atlanta Carolinas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. This investigation, culminating with the sentencing of Rodriguez-Martinez, exemplifies that good always prevails and the effort and commitment by agents and task force officers is noble.”
According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges and other information presented in court: On October 7, 2020, a confidential source (CS) working with agents from the DEA made multiple recorded phone calls to Rodriguez-Martinez to purchase several kilograms of methamphetamine.
After the phone calls, Rodriguez-Martinez, who federal law enforcement agents were surveilling, travelled to a location in the metro Atlanta area to meet with a drug supplier at a Dunwoody apartment complex. Rodriguez-Martinez travelled to the CS’s residence, where he dropped off his truck containing multiple kilograms of methamphetamine, switched vehicles, and then drove away.
The CS placed additional recorded phone calls to Rodriguez-Martinez, during which Rodriguez-Martinez confirmed that the drugs were in the truck and agreed to return to the CS’s residence to pick up the drugs. Rodriguez-Martinez next travelled to the CS’s residence, picked up the methamphetamine, and quickly departed. Shortly thereafter, the Georgia State Patrol stopped Rodriguez-Martinez’s vehicle and located approximately three kilograms of methamphetamine on the front passenger floorboard.
Jorge Rodriguez-Martinez, 56, of Duluth, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones on August 16, 2024, and will be in prison for 10 years on each count, to be served concurrently, followed by four years of supervised release.
Following a three-day trial, a federal jury convicted Rodriguez-Martinez on April 25, 2024, on one count of conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.
