The passenger’s recording captured the women asking to leave before the former deputy directed them to another location.
LAREDO, Texas — A cellphone recording made by a passenger preserved part of a 2024 traffic stop after a Webb County sheriff’s deputy turned off his body camera, evidence that later became part of a federal civil rights case ending with a 20-year prison sentence.
Ignacio Rodriguez IV, 29, was sentenced Sept. 30 to 240 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to deprivation of rights under color of law. The case centered on his actions after stopping two women in Laredo on Sept. 1, 2024, and showed how a personal recording documented portions of an encounter after an official police camera was shut off.
Federal prosecutors said Rodriguez was on duty when he saw a vehicle traveling into oncoming traffic and initiated a stop. He ordered the driver and a female passenger out of the vehicle and told them to stand near his marked patrol unit. Rodriguez then switched off his body-worn camera.
The passenger began using her cellphone to record portions of what followed. According to prosecutors, the recording captured both women asking Rodriguez to let them go. He repeatedly told them they needed to convince him, took the driver’s cellphone and instructed the women to follow him to a nearby street.
Prosecutors said the passenger remained in the vehicle after they reached the second location while Rodriguez took the driver into his patrol unit. Rodriguez sexually assaulted the driver there, according to the government. The sentencing court later heard testimony about the women’s repeated attempts to leave the encounter.
The recording did not prevent the assault, but prosecutors cited it in describing the sequence leading to the crime and the statements made during the stop. The evidence provided an independent record of portions of the encounter after Rodriguez had disabled his body-worn camera.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty April 23, 2026. U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo imposed the 20-year sentence and ordered him to serve another five years under federal supervision after his release. The judge described his actions as brazen, calculated and extremely cruel during the sentencing proceedings.
The federal case had begun with a two-count indictment unsealed in January 2025. Prosecutors initially accused Rodriguez of a civil rights violation and of falsifying or interfering with records connected to the encounter. The second count was dismissed at the government’s request when Rodriguez was sentenced after his guilty plea to the civil rights offense.
The court also ordered Rodriguez to comply with federal sex offender registration requirements and barred him from contacting the victims. He had resigned from the Webb County Sheriff’s Office two days after the September 2024 incident, according to local reporting. He had worked for the agency since 2021 and was promoted from correctional officer to deputy in November 2023.
U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz said the case reflected damage that extends beyond an individual victim when an officer uses law enforcement authority to commit sexual violence. Federal prosecutors characterized Rodriguez’s conduct as an abuse of the authority entrusted to him as a deputy.
The FBI and Laredo Police Department investigated the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leslie Ann Cortez and Brandon Scott Bowling handling the prosecution. Rodriguez remains in federal custody pending assignment and transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility.
Author note: Last updated October 7, 2026.