Pizza Man Cocaine Delivery: Ramon Rodriguez Gets Caught Selling $40K Of Coke To Undercover Cop At Brooklyn Papa John's [PHOTOS]
A Brooklyn pizza delivery man was bringing much more than pepperoni slices to the door.
Police said Ramon Rodriguez, 45, was using his Papa John’s delivery job as a front to sell cocaine, AP reports. He was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly sold a kilo of cocaine in a pizza box to an undercover officer.
Rodriguez made a total of 19 sales of cocaine to an undercover office since 2011. He allegedly sold more than $40,000 of cocaine while wearing his uniform.
On Wednesday, Rodriguez sold $27,500 worth of cocaine that was hidden in a bag with pizza and chicken nuggets. During a search of his home and car, authorities found $4,500 in cash and drug paraphernalia, including a scale and packaging material. A small bag of cocaine was also recovered from his car, NBC New York reports.
This isn’t the first time pizza has been used to help the drug trade.
In April 2009, a Bronx pizza parlor was caught concealing cocaine in pizza boxes. Authorities said customers could get the drug from delivery or takeout, ABC News reports.
"It must be alarming to find out that your neighborhood pizza parlor is a haven for a wholesale cocaine operation," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said. "Out of state 'take-out' customers went to the pizza parlor to pick up their orders, often using pizza boxes to conceal the $32,000 to $42,000 worth of cocaine they had just purchased. Other customers received their narcotics delivered to prearranged locations in the Bronx."
In March, a Pennsylvania restaurant owner was caught using his Italian café as a front for a trafficking operation to sell drugs hidden in pizza boxes, the Times-Tribune reports. Police there took part in a year-long “Operation Take-Out” where they arrested five residents on cocaine-related charges.
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