Rhode Island

RI man tried smuggling 22 pounds of heroin into Canada via kayak. Now he’s heading to prison

Published

8 months ago

July 24, 2025

Press Room

RI man tried smuggling 22 pounds of heroin into Canada via kayak. Now he’s heading to prison

Freddy Rodriguez was planning to use a kayak to rendezvous with a boat on Lake Champlain, according to court records

Freddy Rodriguez, 40, of West Warwick, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for attempting to smuggle heroin into Canada, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont.
Border Patrol agents apprehended Rodriguez near Lake Champlain as he prepared to kayak 10 kilograms of heroin to a waiting boat, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Rodriguez was caught with the heroin, and his truck, which contained a hidden compartment, was seized, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

BURLINGTON, VT – A Rhode Island man who tried smuggling heroin into Canada via kayak on Lake Champlain was sentenced to 57 months in prison on Monday, July 21, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont.

Freddy Rodriguez, 40, of West Warwick, previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to export heroin from the United States to Quebec, Canada, in September 2023, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

According to court records, Rodriguez had rented a house near Lake Champlain’s Missisquoi Bay in Highgate, Vermont, about 1½ miles from the border and was planning to deliver 10 kilograms of heroin to a power boat that had motored south from Canada when Border Patrol agents foiled the plan.

At about 12:05 a.m. Sept. 19, 2023, Border Patrol agents were hiding in the brush around a property on Duck Point Road “to observe possible illicit maritime traffic” when they saw a man later identified as Rodriguez “carrying what appeared to be at least one small bag,” Border Patrol Agent Brian Wilda said in an affidavit.

Rodriguez sat down on the beach and appeared to make and receive several phone calls, Wilda wrote.

Meanwhile, at about 1:45 a.m., the Border Patrol agents received word from their communications dispatch center that a boat had been detected via remote surveillance equipment traveling south on Lake Champlain across the border, Wilda wrote.

The boat continued south until reaching the area where they were watching Rodriguez “and made a sharp turn to the east (toward shore),” although the agents couldn’t see any running lights on the vessel, Wilda wrote.

“As the vessel turned east, agents observed the male subject on the beach remove objects from one bag and place them into another bag,” Wilda wrote. “The male subject then began to drag a kayak from the beach to the water, facing the direction from which the vessel was approaching.”

That’s when the Border Patrol agents ran from the woods and confronted Rodriquez.

“The subject attempted to abscond by running, but after approximately 40 feet he tripped, fell, and dropped the bag he was carrying,” Wilda wrote. “Agents detained the male subject and seized the bag, walking both back up to the property located above the shoreline.”

“Upon reaching property, the subject was met by additional agents arriving from other vantage points,” Wilda wrote. “I and other agents immediately recognized the detained subject as Freddy Rodriguez, an individual known to us from previous marijuana-smuggling events we had investigated in New Hampshire, in the far eastern portion of the Swanton Sector.”

Laboratory testing later showed that Rodriguez was carrying about 10 kilograms, or more than 22 pounds, of heroin, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

“Based on text messages recovered from Rodriguez’s phone, he appeared to have expected to receive a large quantity of cash and MDMA (ecstasy) in exchange for the controlled substances he was attempting to deliver,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Agents also searched and seized Rodriguez’s Ford F150 truck, which was later found to have “a sophisticated locking trap – a void used for secretly transporting large quantities of drugs or currency – under the truck’s rear seats, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Because of poor weather, the agents weren’t able to stop the boat.

Chief U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss also sentenced Rodriguez to three years of supervised release after his prison term.

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Rhode Island

Release of rescued bobcats by the Wildlife Clinic of Rhode Island

Published

12 hours ago

April 3, 2026

Press Room

Release of rescued bobcats by the Wildlife Clinic of Rhode Island

The Wildlife Clinic of Rhode Island rehabilitated two orphaned kitten bobcats starting last July and continuing through Monday, March 30, when the bobcats were released into the wild. Video from the Wildlife Clinic of Rhode Island and URI’s Quest Lab.

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Rhode Island

Crash closes Route 146 north in Lincoln

Published

1 day ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation reported a crash blocking all travel lanes on Route 146 north.

RIDOT posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the crash cleared shortly before 8 p.m.

Officials said the crash happened at the exit to Route 99 in Lincoln.

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Rhode Island

Who is Dolores Catania? What to know about ‘The Real Housewives’ of RI guest

Published

2 days ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

Who is Dolores Catania? What to know about ‘The Real Housewives’ of RI guest

With the premiere of “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island”, you may be wondering exactly who you will be seeing on the screen.

Premiering on Thursday, April 2, Rhode Island’s debut in “The Real Housewives” franchise will focus on seven women from all across the Ocean State. The series will also include appearances from a franchise-familiar face: “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Dolores Catania.

Never seen “The Real Housewives of New Jersey”? Here’s what to know about Dolores Catania ahead of Rhode Island’s series premiere.

Who is Dolores Catania?

Born and raised in New Jersey, Dolores Catania quickly became a franchise fan-favorite after joining “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” in Season 7. While “The Real Housewives” is known for drama, Catania herself is known as a mediator on the show, often helping to keep the peace rather than choosing sides in an argument.

The 55-year-old Bravo celebrity shares two children with her ex-husband Frank Catania, who she maintains a close friendship and business partnership with. Catania is now engaged to Paul “Paulie” Connell, and she recently told Us Weekly that she plans to take wedding inspiration from another part-time Rhode Islander: Taylor Swift.

A TV personality and multi-faceted entrepeneur, Dolores Catania is most well-known for her charitable work with women’s shelters and animal rescue organizations. In 2018, fans voted her as “Miss Congeniality” across the entire “Real Housewives” franchise. Her efforts have also been recognized with honors such as the key to the city of Paterson and the Ambassador of Hope Award by Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, according to Bravo.

How is Dolores Catania connected to Rhode Island?

While Dolores Catania will be featured throughout “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island,” she is not trading her Jersey housewife life for the Ocean State. Rather, Catania joins the new series as a friend and mentor.

Specifically, Catania comes into the show as a close friend of Rhode Island “Real Housewife” Liz McGraw, a well-known Rhode Island dispensary owner whom Catania met at a cannabis convention. Together, the pair has plans to launch a line of gummies for menopausal women.

“It was a dream to have her by my side. I couldn’t imagine anything cooler than to have her here on my home turf with me,” McGraw told Bravo about filming alongside Catania. “Dolores is just an amazing friend. She understands me and I understand her. I trust her with my life.”

Although Catania did not know any of the other cast members prior to filming, she told Bravo that she became close with the entire cast.

“In a really crazy way, I felt like I knew them forever. They’re all very relatable to me. Each person, in their own way, I very much understood and felt that I fit in,” Catania said in a release.

While Catania said no state could ever come close to New Jersey, she did admit that she enjoyed filming in the “calmer” state of Rhode Island. She added that she does not feel too different from the Rhode Island housewives, saying that viewers will love them for their relatability in the same way they loved the relatability of the New Jersey housewives.

How to watch ‘The Real Houswives of Rhode Island’

The debut season of “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” will premiere Thursday, April 2 at 9 p.m. on Bravo. After the first episode, new episodes will air weekly on Sundays at 9 p.m.

Episodes will be available for next-day streaming on Peacock. This means that the first episode will be available to stream on Friday, April 3, with new episodes available to stream on Mondays each week after that.

Watch ‘The Real Housewives of Rhode Island’ on Peacock

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