California Man Sentenced to Prison for Federal Drug Trafficking Conviction in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – Phillip Tracy Rodgers, Sr., 61, of Long Beach, Calif., was sentenced this morning in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 33 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for his drug trafficking conviction.

Rodgers was arrested on Sept. 4, 2014, on a criminal complaint charging him with unlawfully possessing chemicals that could be used to manufacture a controlled substance.  Rodgers was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol and DEA agents at the Border Patrol Checkpoint on I-10 in Las Cruces, after agents discovered that Rodgers was concealing gasoline canisters of chemicals used in the manufacture of PCP and methamphetamine.  More specifically, Rodgers possessed 42 gallons of Diethyl Ether, ten gallons of Bromobenzene and five gallons of Cyclohexanone.

Rodgers was subsequently indicted on Dec. 10, 2014, and charged with possession of diethyl ether, while knowing that the chemical would be used to manufacture PCP.  On April 28, 2015, Rodgers pled guilty to the indictment and admitted that on Sept. 4, 2014, he was in possession of 13 five-gallon gasoline containers containing Diethyl Ether, Bromobenzene, and Cyclohexanone when he was stopped at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on I-10 in New Mexico.  Rodgers admitted that he was transporting the chemicals from San Antonio, Texas, to Los Angeles, Calif., where he expected to be paid for delivering the chemicals.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the DEA and the Las Cruces Station of the U.S. Border Patrol.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna R. Wright of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office prosecuted the case.