DENVER (KDVR) — A man connected to a Mexican cartel has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, according to the 17’s Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Ivan Rodriguez, 32, was sentenced for three separate cases in which he was in possession of numerous types of drugs he trafficked around the region.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a press conference in New Mexico on Tuesday the Sinaloa cartel was targeted in the “largest fentanyl bust in our nation’s history” a coordinated takedown spanning the five states that recovered 11.5 kilos of fentanyl, including about 3 million fentanyl-laced pills labeled as oxycodone.
Rodriguez was arrested in 2022 and 2023 for the drug trafficking cases he was sentenced for, but his operation, the Sanudo-Rivera Drug Trafficking Organization, was part of a “direct cartel pipeline for the distribution of fentanyl into the greater Adams County area,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Rodriguez “was a major source of deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine in our community and acted with utter disregard for the lives destroyed by these drugs,” said District Attorney Brian Mason in a press release. “Thirty years in prison is an appropriate and necessary consequence for these crimes. I’m grateful to our law enforcement partners for their thorough investigation into these cases.”
In the first case, Thornton police arrested Rodriguez on Nov. 2, 2022, after tracking him from a hotel to store and finding 147.94 grams of methamphetamine, 112.44 grams of counterfeit Oxycodone (fentanyl), 1.39 grams of Ketamine and 13.77 grams of counterfeit Xanax during a search warrant execution, according to the DA’s office. Officers found Rodriguez wearing a shirt that said “drug dealer” at the time of this offense.
The second and third cases happened in 2023.
North Metro Task Force detectives in the first 2023 case intercepted a wiretap communication revealing Rodriguez’s role in the trafficking operation, tying him to the Sinaloa cartel, according to the district attorney’s office. Rodriguez was observed conducting a drug transaction and led officers on a high-speed chase.
Officers recovered a bag containing 1.68 kilograms of fentanyl, 2.56 kilograms of methamphetamine, a firearm, nearly $3,000 in cash and multiple cell phones from a bag he threw away during the chase.
Then, in December 2023, Rodriguez was found with nearly three pounds of methamphetamine and 21 grams of counterfeit fentanyl pills.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty to multiple charges of Drug Felony 1 – Possession with Intent to Distribute. He was sentenced in February to 14 years for the 2022 case and in April 16 years for each of the 2023 cases.
The 16-year sentences will run concurrently with each other but consecutively to the 14-year sentence for a total of 30 years in prison.
