Mt. Pleasant couple charged with firearms and drug trafficking

Listen to this article

Deandre Rodgers of Mount Pleasant was charged on various firearm and drug violations this week alongside partner Viridiana Garcia-Ramirez of Los Angeles. According to the allegations, Rodgers and Garcia-Ramirez planned to purchase firearms from local Wisconsin gun stores, alter or obliterate the serial numbers on those firearms and sell those firearms to others. Between December 2021 and March 2022, Rodgers and Garcia-Ramirez purchased 11 handguns and one rifle from local gun stores.

On April 5, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) executed a warrant at a hotel in Mt. Pleasant where defendants were staying. Agents found 29-individually wrapped plastic bags containing crack cocaine, two digital scales and approximately $800, but none of firearms.

The pair were charged with conspiring to violate U.S. law for dealing in firearms without a license, making a false statement to a federal firearms licensee, unlawful possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, distribution of a controlled substance, using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance

Rodgers is prohibited from possessing a firearm as a result of a prior felony conviction.

This case will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Kovoor.