Father, son tried eluding cops by offering to pay homeowner, NC sheriff says
A father and son with drugs in their vehicle took Iredell County deputies on a chase last week and, in the process, struck vehicles and tried paying a homeowner to hide them.
On Dec. 21, deputies conducted a vehicle stop on a 2021 Honda with Massachusetts registration plates on Interstate 77 for a traffic violation. During the stop, the deputies became suspicious of possible criminal activity, the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Edgar Raphael Rodriguez, 35, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was in the driver’s seat. Another male was sitting in the passenger seat, the Sheriff’s Office said.
When Rodriguez was questioned by the deputies, he placed the vehicle in drive and sped away from them. Deputies began chasing the Honda and during the pursuit, Rodriguez threw a handgun out of the vehicle, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The deputies continued the chase on I-77, where Rodriguez struck a tractor trailer, other vehicles and the guardrail before becoming disabled near the 44 Southbound Mile Marker, the Sheriff’s Office said. Both suspects abandoned the vehicle and ran.
Deputies responded to Scarlet Tanager Lane after learning that the suspects tried obtaining another vehicle, and paying a homeowner in the area to hide them, the Sheriff’s Office said.
A canine officer was deployed, and deputies established a perimeter around the area within minutes, leading to the capture of both suspects, the Sheriff’s Office said. Once in custody, deputies determined the second suspect was Rodriguez’s 16-year-old son.
Deputies found five ounces of marijuana and several items of drug paraphernalia in the suspects’ Honda. The handgun thrown out of the vehicle was found, and after running the serial numbers through a criminal justice data base, it was verified to have been stolen in Pennsylvania, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Rodriguez was sent to the Iredell County Detention Center where he’s charged with six felonies, including fleeing to elude arrest, possession with intent to sell or deliver a schedule VI controlled substance, possession of a schedule VI controlled substance, maintaining a vehicle for the sale or use of a controlled substance, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a stolen firearm, and three misdemeanors.
Rodriguez, a convicted felon in the state of New York, was issued a $250,000 secured bond on his charges, the Sheriff’s Office said. The N.C. State Highway Patrol filed additional charges.
The 16-year-old, whose name was not released because of his age, was turned over to the Iredell County Department of Social Services which will assist in returning him to his family, the Sheriff’s Office said. The juvenile isn’t facing any charges, Maj. William Hamby, the Sheriff’s Office’s spokesman, told the Observer.
