BURLINGTON — A property manager/real estate agent from Rhode Island, who was found with 22 pounds of pure heroin on Lake Champlain at Highgate two years ago, has been sentenced to almost 5 years in federal prison.

U.S. Border Patrol Agents arrested Freddy J. Rodriguez, 40, of West Warwick, R.I. with 10 kilograms of heroin on Sept. 19, 2023 as he prepared a nighttime load in a kayak to head north from Highgate on Lake Champlain to meet another vessel coming south from Canada.

Rodriguez was planning the nighttime trade of heroin for a large quantity of cash and MDMA (ecstasy) in the middle of Missisquoi Bay off Duck Point Road in Highgate, where he had rented a camp to help execute the drug deal, records show.

Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss told Rodriguez on Monday that once he completes his 57-month prison sentence, he will be under federal supervised release by the U.S. Probation Office for 3 years.

The sentence was on the high end of the federal sentencing guidelines, which had proposed a penalty between 46 and 57 months.

The heroin seizure near the international border is one of the largest in Vermont history.

Reiss was having a hard time buying the argument by defense lawyer William J. Keefe of Boston that Rodriguez was a minor player in what the judge called a “sophisticated international drug smuggling” operation.

“He was obviously a trusted member of the conspiracy,” Reiss said.  She also found it hard to believe Rodriguez when he said he did not know what he was carrying in the large bags.

Reiss cited his past track record and that he had a secret trap built under the rear seat in his white Ford F150 truck to hide the illegal drugs and currency.

“It’s heroin.  It’s what people don’t want imported into this country,” the judge said.

“It’s a tremendous amount of drugs,” Reiss said.   “This is not a mistake.  This is a plan.”

Reiss noted the government had maintained Rodriguez was not completely honest when meeting with prosecutors to offer his cooperation.

The judge also said she found it hard to believe Rodriguez’s claims he did not know who were some of the main players in the conspiracy or who he reported to in the business.  It was especially hard when Rodriguez maintained he had made at least 10 earlier drug runs to the international border, she said.

Reiss also questioned how Rodriguez could afford to buy a $500,000 home in Rhode Island and a $58,000 car based on the income he was claiming.

“I don’t know what to make of the finances,” the judge said.

Reiss also asked why, when Rodriguez claims to be a family man, he would ignore the possible serious impact a drug arrest would have on his wife and children. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Lasher had argued that Rodriguez had been less than forthcoming with him and law enforcement when caught.

“He speciously denied the involvement of individuals such as his uncle and Benjamin Nicolas in the drug-distribution activities,” lasher wrote in his sentencing memo.

Nicolas, 38, of the Barre/Randolph area was sentenced to 20 months in May for money laundering and violation of his supervised release, records show.

Keefe said the lack of cooperation could be understood if some people in the conspiracy were family members.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty in March 2024 to a single felony count of knowingly and intentionally conspiring with others to export a controlled substance from the United States into Canada in September 2023.

Reiss postponed the start of the court hearing and ordered Rodriguez to undergo a drug test.  After more than a half hour wait, he returned to the courtroom with a probation officer and the court was told he was unable to produce a urine sample for the drug test.

Keefe had tried to argue for a time served sentence, which equated to about one week – the time between his arrest and his release on conditions.  Keefe said he thought it was “not an unreasonable request.”

Keefe said Rodriguez has four children.  Two older children (ages 17 and 12) with one woman and two younger children (ages 8 and 7 ) with his current wife.  One of them is a special needs child, Keefe said.

Reiss said it appeared Keefe was downplaying the serious nature of his client’s involvement. 

Rodriguez, with his voice cracking and holding back the tears, apologized to the court and his family.  His wife and mother were among six supporters attending the hearing.

He said he has been working hard managing luxury apartments and other places since his arrest.  He said he earns over $100,000 with bonuses. 

“I understand what I did was serious,” Rodriguez said.  He said he is not the guy that showed up at the lake, but rather that is hard at work each day.

Federal agents have said Rodriguez is well-known to them from previous marijuana-smuggling events in northern New Hampshire, just east of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

In the current case, a Homeland Security Investigations Task Force was conducting surveillance along the lake in Highgate during the early morning hours of Sept. 19, 2023.  The agents were near five houses or camps on Duck Point Road, which is known to be used for short-term rentals by international smugglers in past cases, a court affidavit said.

The site is used for both launching points for northbound smuggling events and as landing points for southbound smuggling incidents, HSI said.

The federal agents spotted a man carrying a bag walking down a path toward the shore about 12:05 a.m.   He sat on the beach in the dark and appeared to make and receive several phone calls.

Investigators learned a single maritime vessel also was headed south on Lake Champlain and crossed the international border.  It reached the area near the stakeout team off Duck Point Road about 1:45 a.m., a court affidavit said.  The Canadian vessel made a sudden left turn toward the Vermont shore.

The man on the beach began to move items from one bag to another bag and he started to drag a kayak from the beach to the water facing the incoming vessel, HSI said.  The federal agents came out of the woods and ordered the man to stop as he loaded the bricks of cocaine into the kayak, but he tried to run, records show. 

After about 40 feet the man tripped, fell and dropped the bag he was carrying as law enforcement moved in, court records show.  Rodriguez was soon recognized by the federal agents based on previous marijuana smuggling events in Northern New Hampshire.

Multiple brick-like black packages wrapped in cellophane were visible in the partially torn bag, the HSI said in a six-page affidavit.  Examination later showed they contained a white powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine, HSI said.

Investigators also found an empty hockey bag and an empty duffel bag in the white Ford F150 that Rodriguez had parked near the short-term rental camp.

The two bags were consistent with items “commonly used in cross-border drug-smuggling events to transport bulky substances — typically marijuana,” a HSI task force member said in court papers.

Federal agents initially suspected Rodriguez may have been expecting to receive bulk marijuana from the unknown vessel in the lake.  Even with some states approving marijuana possession, it remains a federal crime and can be a lucrative item to smuggle into the United States, officials have said.

The federal investigation eventually determined it was MDMA, which is frequently called ecstasy or molly.  The party drug acts as both a stimulant and hallucinogen, producing an energizing effect, distortions in time and perception, and enhanced enjoyment of tactile experiences, the Drug Enforcement Administration said.

It can be used by adolescents and young adults to reduce inhibitions and to promote euphoria, feelings of closeness, empathy, and sexuality.

The vessel that came out of Canada disappeared into the dark night without a trace, officials said.  Due to bad weather, no air surveillance was possible by the HSI team.

Federal agents said Rodriguez was well-known to them from previous marijuana-smuggling events in northern New Hampshire, including a major bust in 2021. Rodriguez and two companions were arrested with almost 250 pounds of marijuana, in Stewartstown, N.H. four years ago, but the U.S. Attorney in the Granite State opted not to pursue the criminal case, records show.

Rodriguez had 55 pounds of marijuana when he was arrested in Stewartstown, N.H. on July 15, 2021 — and with his two associates they had a total of 243 pounds of marijuana, court records show.  Also seized from the group was $4,000 in cash, records showed.

In arguing for his detention in the Vermont case in September 2023, Lasher wrote, “The defendant appears to be an organizer in a transnational narcotics-smuggling organization with operations that have lasted more than a year and a half and that involved well in excess of 25 cross-border events (based on cell-site location information).”

Rodriguez appeared to deposit in excess of $200,000 in a three-month period leading up to his New Hampshire arrest in 2021, Lasher said in his detention motion.

“Financial investigation of the defendant following that arrest revealed unexplained wealth, given his deposits into multiple bank accounts while agents did not observe the defendant participating in any regular employment or business transactions,” he said.

When arrested in Highgate, Rodriguez had 16 credit or debit cards, including four from Capital One and two from Chase, all with his name on them, Lasher said.  The defendant also had cards for a couple of businesses, Canela Brothers Transport and Canela Merchandise LLC.  The Canela Brothers business has ties to West Warwick, R.I., New Milford, N.J., Edinburg, Texas, and Mission, Texas, Lasher said.

Lasher also noted one of the Massachusetts men arrested with him in New Hampshire in 2021 was in the Highgate area and may have been there to assist in the drug smuggling operation.  He said Luis Torres took a wrong turn near the international border and ended up getting arrested that night for driving while intoxicated.

Vermont State Police confirmed Torres, then-68, of Dorchester, Mass. was arrested after federal agents at the border in Highgate reported an intoxicated driver about 11:35 p.m. Sept. 18.

Troopers responded and took Torres into custody and brought him to the state police barracks in St. Albans for processing, Trooper Casey Harkins said.  Torres was ordered to later appear in Vermont Superior Court in St. Albans, Harkins said.

Keefe, the defense lawyer, has said Rodriguez was born in Boston and graduated from Charlestown High, where he was involved in Junior ROTC.  He married Sonya Gantier De Rodriguez in 2015 and they have the two boys at home. They moved to Rhode Island 5 years ago.

Rodriguez attended Quincy College in Massachusetts for 1 ½ years and has no criminal record, Keefe has said.  Rodriguez also has 3 brothers and sisters in Massachusetts that are close to him, he said.