2020-05-01 iD

had previously stood and located the

cistern where the drugs were buried.

He’d expected to dig with his hands

but found the ground had hardened

to nearly the consistency of concrete.

Rodney came back with a shovel,

but after several hours of fruitless

digging, he had to give up. Before the

fl ight home, U.S. Customs inspected

all of the luggage on the fl ight with

sniffer dogs, and Rodney decided it

was prudent to abandon the hunt.

But then his home telephone rang,

and he heard the voice of Carlos on

the other end. Carlos said he was a

Florida drug dealer and had heard of

“I DID

SOMETHING

REALLY

STUPID,”

SAYS THE

WOULD-BE

TREASURE

HUNTER.

the recovery plan. He promised that

if Rodney would give him the map,

he would take ca re of eve r y thing else.

Rodney initially resisted, but the offer

was too attractive to refuse. And that

was the moment when the dream of

a respectable American family man

turned him into a potential criminal.

Rodney waited to see what would

come of the plan, hoping all the while

for a better life for himself and his

family. And then Carlos sent him an

email with a photo of bricks wrapped

in plastic and rubber. Several days

later Carlos called to say the cocaine

had been brought back to Florida and PHO

TOS

:^ Da

nny

Leh

man

n/G

etty

Ima

ges

;^ Ne

tfl^ ix

(^6 );

SLR

adc

liffe

/Ge

tty;

bal

lysc

anlo

n/G

etty

;^

Yuli

a^ B

uza

eva

/Ge

tty;

Eiv

aisl

a/G

etty

.

May 2020 48 ideasanddiscoveries.com