Luzerne County Clothing Store Owner Sentenced to Over 20 Years of Imprisonment for Drug Trafficking (DOJ)

SCRANTON- The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that on November 21, 2025, United States District Judge Robert D. Mariani sentenced James Rodriguez, Jr. a/k/a "Mack Mulla," age 33, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to 242 months' imprisonment for drug trafficking.

According to United States Attorney Brian D. Miller, on June 24, 2025, a jury convicted Rodriguz on nine counts of a superseding indictment charging conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 1.3 kilograms of fentanyl and 8.5 kilograms of marijuana between January 2021 and January 2022. During the conspiracy, Rodriguez operated Mulla Fashion, a clothing store, which included a recording studio, located on Scott Street in Wilkes-Barre. Rodriguez used the store as a front to sell fentanyl and marijuana to users and other street level drug dealers. In January 2021, Rodriguez travelled to Mexico to meet with MS-13 gang members, who supplied him with kilograms of fentanyl for distribution. Rodriguez also kept a stash house in Wilkes-Barre Township for storage of drugs. On January 20, 2022, a search warrant was executed at this stash house and law enforcement seized 159 grams of fentanyl, 400 grams of marijuana, two handguns and a shotgun. Law enforcement also seized 800 grams of marijuana, 37 grams of fentanyl, a ballistics vest, and a handgun from Mulla Fashion.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Kingston Police Department and the Luzerne County Drug Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jenny P. Roberts and Kyle Moreno prosecuted the case.

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