Man Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison for Conspiring to Steal $500,000 Worth of Enfamil

INDIANAPOLIS—Joseph H. Hogsett, United States Attorney, announced today that Abel Rodriguez, 48, of Miami, Fla., was sentenced to 24 months in prison by U.S. District Chief Judge Richard L. Young for conspiring to steal approximately $500,000 worth of a Mead Johnson product.

In March 2010, the FBI in Indiana began investigating the interstate theft of Mead Johnson products from the distribution centers in Chandler and Mount Vernon, Ind.

On March 31, 2010, undercover police surveillance observed Rodriguez and his co-conspirators casing the Mount Vernon distribution center looking for a semi tractor-trailer loaded with Mead Johnson product to steal. Rodriguez and his co-conspirators followed a semi tractor-trailer that left the Mount Vernon distribution center and traveled West on I-64. The truck, carrying approximately $500,000 worth of Enfamil product, stopped in Mount Vernon, Ill., at a truck stop. Law enforcement surveillance was set up at the truck stop. After the truck driver left his truck, Rodriguez and his co-conspirators connected their truck to the Mead Johnson trailer and began to drive off with the Enfamil product. Law enforcement then stopped the truck and arrested Rodriguez and his co-conspirators, Cecelio Guillen who was previously sentenced to 36 months in prison, and Jorge Nimer Rolo who remains a fugitive.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Matthias D. Onderak, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Young also imposed three years’ supervised release following Rodriguez’s release from imprisonment.