A Panama City Beach man found with hundreds of grams of methamphetamine after he fled on foot during a traffic stop was found guilty as charged Friday and sentenced to 30 years in prison, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.
Roderick Rodriquez Wright, 52, was found guilty of Trafficking Amphetamines (more than 200 grams) and Resisting and Officer Without Violence after only 25 minutes of deliberation by a jury Friday. Prosecutor Brea Dearing needed only two witnesses – Bay County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Lance Woodworth and Florida Department of Law Enforcement analyst Jessica Bosseler to prove her case.
Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay sentenced the defendant to 30 years for the first-degree felony. The first 15 years of that is minimum-mandatory under Florida’s enhanced drug trafficking statutes. Judge Gay also levied a $250,000 fine.
“The defendant was carrying a very large amount of methamphetamine that never made it to our community’s streets thanks to Deputy Woodworth’s active patrol,” Dearing said. “The nearly 1 pound of meth the defendant tried to escape with will be destroyed. But none of our residents will be destroyed by his drugs as he serves this lengthy sentence where he belongs – in prison.”
Dearing had both the testimony of Deputy Woodworth and the defendant’s own words, captured on the deputy’s bodycam following a foot chase.
On April 16, Deputy Woodworth paced a Nissan Altima at 80 mph in a 65-mph zone in northern Bay County. He attempted to stop the vehicle, but a “low speed pursuit” began. Woodworth said the defendant, a passenger in the car, suddenly jumped out of it with a black Nike backpack and fled.
He was captured a short distance away, the backpack nearby. Inside the backpack deputies found four breast milk bags holding seven separate baggies of methamphetamine weighing close to a pound.
The defendant claimed he did not know what was in the backpack. He said he was from Georgia. The car was rented out of state. Dearing said the drugs’ packaging was indicative of a drug trafficking operation.
Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its proactive patrol work that led to the arrest.
For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.