The former Webb County deputy pleaded guilty after sexually assaulting a woman during a 2024 traffic stop in Laredo.
LAREDO, Texas — A former Webb County sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after admitting he violated a woman’s civil rights by sexually assaulting her during an on-duty traffic stop, federal prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo sentenced Ignacio Rodriguez IV, 29, to 240 months in prison on Sept. 30, followed by five years of supervised release. Rodriguez pleaded guilty April 23 to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. The sentence closes the central federal criminal case stemming from a Sept. 1, 2024, traffic stop in which prosecutors said Rodriguez used his authority as a deputy to isolate and assault the woman.
Federal prosecutors said Rodriguez stopped a vehicle after seeing it travel into oncoming traffic. He ordered the driver and a female passenger out of the vehicle and directed them to stand near his marked patrol unit. Rodriguez then turned off his body-worn camera, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
The passenger began recording portions of the encounter on her cellphone. Prosecutors said the recording captured both women repeatedly asking Rodriguez to let them leave. Rodriguez instead told them they needed to convince him, took the driver’s cellphone and instructed the women to follow him to another street.
At the second location, the passenger remained in the women’s vehicle while Rodriguez took the driver into his marked patrol unit, according to prosecutors. He then sexually assaulted her. The court heard testimony about the women’s repeated requests to go home before Rodriguez directed them away from the original stop.
Marmolejo described Rodriguez’s conduct at sentencing as brazen, calculated and extremely cruel. U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz said an officer who commits sexual violence under color of law harms not only the victim but also public trust in law enforcement. He said Rodriguez abused the authority that came with his position.
Federal court records also show Rodriguez must comply with sex offender registration requirements and may not contact the victims. A second federal count accusing him of destroying, altering or falsifying records in a federal investigation was dismissed on the government’s motion at sentencing.
Rodriguez had worked for the Webb County Sheriff’s Office before the assault. Previous local reporting shows he joined the agency as a correctional officer in 2021 and became a deputy in November 2023. He resigned two days after the September 2024 incident. Laredo police arrested him later that month on state charges, and a federal grand jury indicted him in January 2025.
The original federal indictment accused Rodriguez of depriving the victim of her constitutional rights and alleged that he disabled recording equipment during the encounter. At that stage, the accusations were allegations. Rodriguez’s later guilty plea to the civil rights count established his criminal responsibility for that offense before the court imposed the 20-year sentence.
The FBI and Laredo Police Department investigated the federal case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leslie Ann Cortez and Brandon Scott Bowling prosecuted it. Rodriguez remains in custody and is awaiting transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility.
Author note: Last updated October 7, 2026.