Man Wanted for Questioning in Killing Faces Drug, DUI Charge

When Easton police took an 18-year-old man into custody Thursday night, they said they wanted to talk to him in connection with a downtown homicide earlier this month.

But first, they booked Miguel Angel Rodriguez on charges from previous incidents. He was charged with drunken driving, giving police false identification and not having a driver’s license during a traffic stop early on Feb. 8 – one day before the downtown homicide.

He also was charged with selling $40 worth of heroin on the afternoon of Oct. 9. The buyer was a “cooperating source” working with police.

Meanwhile, the Express-Times reported that Rodriguez is facing two counts of attempted murder in connection with a three-year street gang war in the East New York section of Brooklyn. The paper attributes the information to the Kings County District Attorney’s office.

Easton police took Rodriguez into custody Thursday night during a raid at 516 Glendon Ave. on the South Side. 

They said they wanted to talk to him about the Feb. 9 shooting death of Damien Robinson at Eddie G’s Bar. Police have said the killing could be related to an argument between members of the Bloods gang. 

In the drunken driving case, meanwhile, police stopped Rodriguez around 2 a.m. Feb. 8 driving a black Nissan Altima on the 300 block of Washington Street.

Rodriguez went through the stop sign at S. Sitgreaves Street and Larry Holmes Drive, just east of Third Street and Larry Holmes Drive, according to a criminal complaint filed by Sgt. Dominick W. Marraccini.

The suspect identified himself as “Jaquer McFadden,” with a date of birth of Aug. 9, 1992. Marraccini said he smelled a strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from the car and a strong odor of alcohol coming from “McFadden.”

The man was given a preliminary blood test, which registered 0.09 percent (the legal limit is 0.08 percent for adults and 0.02 percent for people under 21). Rodriguez, who had no driver’s license and no identification, was arrested for suspicion of drunken driving and taken to county Central Booking.

Five days later, Marraccini was told the suspect’s fingerprints returned a positive hit out of New York – not as Jaquer McFadden, born Aug. 9, 1992, but Miguel Rodriguez, born May 25, 1994.

In the drug case, police say Rodriguez sold the heroin Oct. 9 after getting into the source’s car at Sixth and Spruce streets. The source drove around the block and dropped off Rodriguez about a half-block up on Ferry Street, according to a criminal complaint filed by Det. Anthony Arredondo.

The source gave police four packets of heroin he bought from Rodriguez, whom the source knew by the nickname “Low.” Arrendondo, meanwhile, learned the suspect also is known as “Dolo.”

The complaints list two different addresses for Rodriguez. In the traffic stop, his address is 600 Canal St., Apt./Suite C4, Easton. In the drug case, it’s 38 S. Howard St., also Easton.

Rodriguez was charged with delivery of a controlled substance – heroin in the drug case. In the traffic stop, he was charged with DUI and false identification to law enforcement authorities, as well as purchase, consumption, possession or transportation of alcohol, a charge of stop signs and yield signs, and a charge of drivers required to be licensed.

He was arraigned in both cases at 2:30 a.m. Friday by on-duty District Judge Robert Hawke of Lehigh Township and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail in the drug case and $15,000 bail in the traffic stop.

Arrests do not indicate a conviction.