Mexican authorities announced last week they are deporting a convicted LSD and marijuana dealer from Wyoming who had been hiding out in the town of Culiacán.
Gabriel Seth Rodgers, 25, was hiding in the Mexican town after evading his United States-imposed supervised release, says the English translation of a Mexican periodical story dated March 27.
Law enforcement agents closed in on the subdivision where the man was sheltered and carried out operations to find, identify, approach and arrest him, Mexican federal authorities told the “El Diaro” news outlet.
Rodgers, also known as “Gabriel N,” was “placed at the disposal of authorities of the National Institute of Migration for deportation,” the story says.
Started In Gillette
Rodgers showed recent addresses in Sundance, Wyoming, and in Rapid City, South Dakota, before his 2018 arrest relating to a pawn shop heist of 32 firearms from 4T Pawn in Gillette.
The Gillette Police Department responded to the burglary June 30, 2018.
GPD and other agencies compiled evidence linking Rodgers to the multi-person heist. One of the burglars told police that Rodgers had a good connection with someone in Denver, Colorado, who would buy the stolen guns, says an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case.
Rodgers had sold about eight or nine guns for the burglar before, the latter said.
One “source of information” told investigators that Rodgers had sold numerous firearms to his cocaine source, whom the source described as “an overweight Hispanic Juvenile that may be 16 years old” named Xavier.
Xavier had announced that he’d murder people for $1,500, the affidavit relates from the source interview.
Rodgers was convicted in April 2019 for possessing stolen firearms and conspiring to distribute LSD and marijuana, says his federal court file.
Vanished In 2022
He was originally sentenced to 44 months in federal prison.
Later, when he broke a condition of his supervised release, he was sent back to jail for four months in August 2022, then obligated to a new three-year term of supervised release, the file says.
Rodgers “broke that benefit, evaded U.S. justice and moved to Culiacan to hide,” wrote El Diario.
He didn’t report with the probation officer after his Dec. 4, 2022, release from the Scottsbluff County Detention Center, says a warrant affidavit in his court file.
“Attempts to locate the defendant have been made to no avail, and his current whereabouts are unknown,” the warrant affidavit adds.
The United States issued a warrant for Rodgers’ arrest on Dec. 8, 2022.
Back To Wyoming
Court documents filed this week in the U.S. District Court of Utah indicate that Rodgers is now in U.S. federal custody.
He appeared for a Tuesday hearing in the Utah federal court. The federal government wants to keep him in detention. Rodgers asked the court to send his case to the district of Wyoming.
A federal Utah magistrate judge Wednesday ordered the U.S. Marshal to transport Rodgers to Wyoming for further proceedings.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
