Mexican cartel operative gets 13 years for selling drugs at Shakopee meth lab

One officer testified at trial that the case at the time involved “the largest methamphetamine seizure in the history of the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force,” which worked on the case with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. and the Shakopee Police Department.

Daniel Gerdts, an attorney representing Rodriguez Pineda, claimed prior to sentencing that his client agreed to help a Mexican cartel distribute meth while under “explicit” threats to his and his family’s safety. He could not walk away from the operation or report it to Minnesota police because police here “could not protect his wife and children in Michoacán once his deception was discovered by his oppressor in Mexico,” Gerdts wrote in a memo beforehand. to the conviction.

“The threat essentially consisted of a loaded gun pointed at the head of his wife and children in Mexico,” Gerdts wrote. “The foreign handlers coerced his cooperation through mandatory daily contact and by sending their enforcers to monitor him.”

Gerdts described Rodriguez Pineda’s role as that of a concierge who looked after the Shakopee residence and distributed drugs to customers. He wrote that his client was “for all intents and purposes an unknown replacement for the original person whose job it was to look after the home and distribute the drugs to the customers.” The “disastrous disappearance of the original concierge, without warning to the organization’s clients, continues to confuse investigators,” Gerdts added.

Coburn pointed out before his sentencing that jurors did not ask follow-up questions during their deliberations about Rodriguez Pineda’s testimony that he had previously been held captive for several days while visiting his hometown in Michoacan, Mexico. Coburn argued that the story was inconsistent with the evidence presented at trial and that it made no sense.

“Defendant’s kidnapping story appears to be pure, baseless fabrication, and nothing about that story in any way mitigates the seriousness of his criminal conduct,” Coburn wrote. “The evidence instead shows that while the suspect was present in Minnesota selling large amounts of methamphetamine, he was having fun, even offering the informant beer during at least one of the controlled purchases, showing off his new Hummer, and partying with cocaine (which was found in his bedroom).”