The leader of a methamphetamine and marijuana drug trafficking organization has received a hefty prison sentence.

27-year-old Rodney Pena Mendez of San Angelo was sentenced Friday morning in Lubbock by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 250 months in federal prison. This sentence follows Mendez’s guilty plea in July 2011 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Rodney Mendez, also known as “Pee Wee,” recruited family and friends to help with his trafficking operation in San Angelo. The group received the methamphetamine from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and the marijuana from South Texas, and would distribute it. On several occasions, they sold the drugs to confidential informants or undercover police officers from defendant Victor Lombrana.

Surveillance revealed that Lombrana visited Mendez regularly, and called him 379 times from August 8th to October 26th of 2009.

In January 2010, Rodney Mendez was the passenger in a vehicle stopped for a traffic violation by the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office. A narcotics detection dog alerted to the odor of drugs in the vehicle. 29 pounds of marijuana were found hidden in the vehicle’s roof liner.

Subsequent searches at Mendez’s brother’s residence yielded 315.63 net grams of methamphetamine and 2.77 pounds of marijuana.

Seven other defendants were charged in a 15-count indictment in May, and all of the defendants have pleaded guilty.

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