Escambia Mexican Restaurant Owner Gets 5 Years For Faking Death

January 26, 2011

An Escambia County Mexican restaurant owner has been sentenced to five years in prison for faking his death in a scheme to collect $2 million.

Ismael B. Rodriguez, 45, the owner of Cazadores Mexican Restaurants, was sentenced Tuesday to 60 months imprisonment for mail fraud and conspiracy to commit that offense.

The defendant was convicted along with his wife and co-defendant, Maria Rodriguez, 41, following a two-day jury trial in Pensacola last November. Evidence at trial established that the defendants traveled to Mexico in 2008, where they faked the death of Ismael B. Rodriguez. Maria Rodriguez returned to the United States with a fraudulent Mexican death certificate in an attempt to obtain approximately $2 million in life insurance proceeds on her husband. In reality, Ismael B. Rodriguez was alive and was subsequently located by law enforcement in Alabama.

Witnesses at trial included employees of the victim’s insurance company, the registrar of death certificates in Morelia, Mexico, and law enforcement agents. At trial, Maria Rodriguez testified that she believed that her husband had been kidnapped and murdered in Mexico. To refute this testimony, the government introduced Customs and Border Protection records showing that Mr. Rodriguez had crossed the United States-Mexico border during the time period in which his wife claimed he was dead.

Senior United States District Judge Roger Vinson also ordered Mr. Rodriguez to pay $4,645 in restitution and $1,200 in fines and court costs.

Maria Rodriguez will be sentenced in United States District Court in Pensacola on February 11, 2011.

Comments

2 Responses to “Escambia Mexican Restaurant Owner Gets 5 Years For Faking Death”

  1. Just An Old Soldier on January 28th, 2011 1:09 pm

    Guess I’ll be getting my Mexican Food at La Hacienda from here out…

  2. CreamPuff on January 26th, 2011 8:44 am

    Well they take care of business better and much swifter is you weren’t
    born in this country. Glad to see some crooks tick them of and they
    do their jobs. Of course these people were to defraud an insurance
    company and heaven knows you can’t try to defraud big business.
    It’s just the average citizen, woman and children that our courts don’t
    do justice by. Money crimes are a whole different matter. It is my belief that
    Big business and lobbyist pay off by contributions and vacations to our elected officials so we sure can’t have them hurt.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News