Blackfoot man to serve more than 10 years for role in carjacking
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) – U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced Tuesday a 23-year-old Blackfoot man was sentenced in U.S. District Court to more than 10 years (130 months) in prison for carjacking and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
U.S. District Judge David C. Nye also ordered Rockit Rodriguez to serve five years of supervised release following his prison sentence.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty to the charge on December 2, 2019.
On February 3, 2020, co-defendant Antonio Ray Sesma-Lopez, 20, of Fort Hall, Idaho, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for carjacking, followed by three years of supervised release. Sesma-Lopez pleaded guilty to the charge on October 22, 2019.
According to court records, in September 2018, Rodriguez was driving a vehicle containing Sesma-Lopez and a third individual on Riverton Road, at the overpass of Interstate 15, in Blackfoot. Rodriguez stopped the car on the overpass. A vehicle driving behind them stopped as well. Rodriguez and Sesma-Lopez exited their vehicle and approached the vehicle behind them. Rodriguez brandished a revolver and commanded the driver of the other vehicle to get out. The victim complied. Sesma-Lopez then directed the victim to give him his wallet, which the victim did. Rodriguez and Sesma-Lopez then fled in the victim’s vehicle.
This case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Blackfoot Police Department, Fort Hall Police Department and Bingham County Sherriff’s Office.
