Honduran man called 'high-level heroin dealer' gets 5 years in prison

Article author: 
Steve Mayes
Article publisher: 
OregonLive.com
Article date: 
Monday, June 29, 2015
Article category: 
Crime
Medium
Article Body: 

A Honduran man described as high-level heroin dealer was sentenced to five years in prison Monday for conspiracy to distribute heroin.

Alex Ovidio Rodriguez-Elvir could have faced a longer sentence. One of Rodriguez-Elvir's customers, a lower level dealer, sold heroin to an Estacada man, David Bessey, who died from an overdose....could not conclusively be linked to the death.

Clackamas County deputies arrested Rodriguez-Elvir in July 2014 after he agreed to deliver heroin to a police informant. He was carrying about 4 ounces on him when he was arrested, said prosecutor Matt Semritc...

Rodriguez-Elvir, 26, was born in Honduras and worked on his family's farm. He came to the United States in 2012 or 2013 to put down "roots" and start a family, said his attorney David Celuch.

He worked as a landscaper in the Portland-area, Celuch said. He also fathered a child, a girl born this year.

Although Rodriguez-Elvir had been in Oregon for a relatively short time, he was a "high-level heroin dealer, selling substantial amounts of the drug, Semritc noted...

Rodriguez-Elvir said he was not fully aware of how deadly heroin could be and tried to distance himself from any responsibility for Bessey's death.

The judge said she found it hard to believe that Rodriguez-Elvir did not know the consequences of his actions...

Rodriguez-Elvir also was placed on three years probation and fined $1,000.

Rodriguez-Elvir's immigration status is unclear, but he faces deportation when he is released from prison.