Pizza Man's Cocaine Delivery Leads to Arrest: Man Delivered to Police 19 Times
A Papa John's deliveryman was arrested for selling more than $40,000 in cocaine while using the job as a means to distribute the drug. Ramon Rodrigues, 45, was charged with multiples counts of selling a controlled substance and one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance.
During the past two years, Rodriguez sold cocaine to undercover officers at least 19 times. Rodriguez was busted yesterday while selling a kilo of cocaine for $27,500 to another undercover officer. The cocaine was hidden in an insulated pizza box that Rodriguez often used to deliver the goods to customers, and officers found $4,500 in cash and drugs paraphernalia during a search of his home.
Jonathan Martinez was also arrested for selling drugs to undercover officers after Rodriguez helped police arrange a meeting. Both men face severe consequences for their actions. Martinez sold 40 grams of cocaine for $1,200 to an undercover officer back in 2011.
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Papa John's has not issued any comment about the situation or the fact that their employees often distributed and claimed to be high while on the job. The popular pizza chain is among the highest-grossing chains in the nation.
Many people have questioned why it took the narcotics unit so long to arrest Rodriguez, especially knowing that he sold to undercover cops at least 19 times.
"My question is: why did police wait so long before making a bust? You'd think after the first couple of times selling to undercover cops they would have made the bust. So they wait over a year to make a case? And all of the coke that wasn't sold to cops made it to the streets anyway? Go figure" Daren Scott Brady posted on NBCNewYork.com.
"That does seem like a long time, but maybe they were hoping to catch more people as time went on. Plus, making multiple purchases would boost the prosecution's case, obviously," replied Jeff Henager.
