Barricade attempt ends in drug arrest at apartment

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Joe David Rodriguez

Sheriff’s deputies used forceful entry procedures at an apartment complex in Cotulla on Thursday evening, March 23, to reach a man who had evaded arrest and barricaded himself in a relative’s residence.
Felony drug possession charges are among those filed against Joe David Rodriguez, 35, of Cotulla after he was extracted from an apartment at Madison Pointe shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday and officers discovered that the car in which he had led them on a short pursuit contained bags of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.
Deputies Joe Pargas and Alonzo Sanchez were first alerted to the suspect’s suspicious behavior when they attempted to effect the traffic stop of a 2008 Cadillac sedan near the intersection of the IH-35 access road and Mars Drive beside the Las Palmas business park. A report on the case indicates Rodriguez had been at the wheel of the car, drove away from the officers and headed towards the apartment complex.
The deputies reported that the man left the car and entered an upstairs apartment at Madison Pointe, where he pushed furniture and other heavy items against the door to create a barricade.
Sheriff’s Lt. Homar Olivarez confirmed this week that deputies forced their way into the apartment through a door and a window to reach the suspect.
Rodriguez has also been identified as being wanted on an arrest warrant out of Jim Hogg County for failure to appear in court on a drug possession charge.
The suspect was remanded into custody at the La Salle County Jail on a Class A misdemeanor charge of evading arrest, a third-degree felony charge of possession of a controlled substance in Penalty Group 2, a second-degree felony and a state jail felony charge of possession of a controlled substance in Penalty Group 1/1b, a Class B misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession, and a third-degree felony charge of evading arrest with a vehicle. He remained in jail in lieu of bond Monday.