FORT WORTH, Texas — A Fort Worth man who admitted to causing the death of a Dallas billionaire's grandson now faces federal gun charges after being arrested for stalking his ex-girlfriend, officials said.
Brennan Rodriguez was arrested in August, nearly ten years after being accused of felony murder for giving a fatal injection of heroin to the grandson of Dallas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, Ty Pickens, according to court and jail records. He was arrested for stalking his former girlfriend and booked into Tarrant County jail just three months shy of the end of the deferred adjudication period, authorities said.
Rodriguez, 33, was charged Wednesday with illegal possession of a machine gun and illegal receipt of a firearm by a person under indictment, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
He previously pleaded guilty to a charge of delivery of a controlled substance that resulted in Ty Pickens' death in 2013. As part of his plea, he agreed in 2014 to 10 years of deferred adjudication probation. Deferred adjudication is usually offered to first-time offenders and allows those who plead guilty to avoid a jury trial and conviction. If an offender completes deferred adjudication it can often be sealed from public view, WFAA previously reported.
Conditions of his community supervision prohibited him from possessing firearms, the release states.
If an offender violates the terms of deferred adjudication, the district attorney can ask a judge to find the person guilty and sentence them to any term in the statutory range of the original charge.
Brennan's ex-girlfriend told police he had been stalking and harassing her since their breakup and reported that Rodriguez regularly shot guns, the release states. After his arrest, police found nine firearms in Rodriguez's home including a rifle equipped with a machine gun conversion device, the release states.
If he is convicted of federal gun crimes, Rodriguez could face up to ten years in prison, the department said.
Rodriguez could also be convicted for the state crimes of delivery of a controlled substance and stalking. Those cases are still pending, the release states.
