HEARING REVEALS NETWORK'S SCOPE

700 Kilograms Of Cocaine Moved Through Knoxville

An alleged drug trafficking network funneled at least 700 kilograms of
cocaine onto Knoxville's streets in a five-year period, federal authorities
revealed Wednesday.

Indictments made public last week alleged a group of 13 people, including
two Miami men and five brothers from Knoxville, made millions in a
trafficking operation.

Although the indictments hinted at a conspiracy larger than any other to be
exposed in Knoxville, the true scope of the alleged network emerged
Wednesday at a hearing in U.S. District Court.

"This case involves potentially 700 kilograms of cocaine," Assistant U.S.
Attorney David Jennings told U.S. Magistrate John Strother.

Jennings revealed some details of the inner workings of the alleged drug
ring at a hearing to determine whether Kenneth Rodgers should remain behind
bars pending trial in the case.

Rodgers and his brothers, Ronnie "Goodie" Rodgers, Anthony Rodgers and
Michael Rodgers, are accused of conspiring with Alexis Munoz and Javier
Martinez, both of Miami, to operate the alleged trafficking organization.

Prosecutors labeled Munoz as the cocaine supplier while Martinez, his
brother-in-law, has been characterized by Jennings as a drug runner,
ferrying the illicit powder from Miami to Knoxville.

At an earlier hearing, Jennings said Martinez drove a Chevrolet that had
been professionally outfitted with "secret compartments" to stash cocaine.
When Martinez was arrested in West Knoxville Jan. 14, he had eight
kilograms of cocaine hidden in those compartments, Jennings said.

The Rodgers brothers headed the Knoxville operation, authorities alleged.
Seven other Knoxville residents are accused of working within the organization.

At Wednesday's hearing, Jennings described how undercover agents "cloned" a
pager used by the Rodgers brothers.

"You would page this pager," Jennings said. "You would put in a dollar amount."

The amount keyed into the pager represented how much cocaine the buyer
wanted, Jennings said.

With a court order allowing them to monitor the cloned pager from August to
September 2001, agents documented drug deals involving 20 kilograms of
cocaine at a value of $720,000, he said.

"That's in one month," Jennings said.

Attorney Tim Moore, who represents Kenneth Rodgers, portrayed his client as
a minor player in the alleged operation. While agents seized a long list of
luxury cars, none of them belonged to Kenneth Rodgers, Moore said.

However, Jennings noted that Kenneth Rodgers has "a serious drug addiction
problem" that may have been eating up his share of the profits.

Knoxville Police Department Investigator Chip Braeuner testified a pager
carried by Kenneth Rodgers logged 2,000 requests for cocaine from October
through December 2002.

Strother refused Moore's request to free Kenneth Rodgers, citing weapons
found in his home and his crack cocaine drug habit. Attorney Doug Trant was
set to argue for Martinez' freedom on Wednesday but decided to waive the
issue after Jennings provided him with "new information" about the
government's case. However, that information was not made public.