SAN FRANCISCO—About 132 drug cases are at risk of being dropped after Christina Hayes, a veteran narcotics officer, was accused of allegedly engaging in an inappropriate relationship with an informant during an active investigation.
Hayes was removed from the narcotics division back on June 20, while prosecutors review the cases. Hayes who has been with the department since 2006 is now serving the Special Operations Bureau for the time being.
So far prosecutors have dismissed 82 drug related cases of the 132 and 9 cases out of Alameda County have also been dismissed. One case included a scenario where there was enough fentanyl to kill two million people.
According to federal court records, Hayes divulged confidential information and attempted to impede a criminal investigation of the source in addition to having an inappropriate relationship with the informant.
A spokesperson for the San Francisco District Attorney Brook Jenkins stated that some of the cases may be impacted due to the “unavailability of a witness.”
In one federal narcotics case that occurred back in October 2022, two alleged drug dealers from Oakland who sold drugs in the Tenderloin District were searched. Hayes was among the police officers who searched the drug dealers’ home.
Hayes and another officer discovered more than five pounds of fentanyl, over $7,000 in cash, ammunition and other contraband, according to court records. Hayes was the officer that transported the evidence, tested the drugs and wrote the incident report.
The two defendants in the case, Olvin Isaac Gutierrez-Nunez and Marvin Alexander Rodriguez Flores, are expected to be in court on August 14, but according to a filing issued Thursday, July 27, by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, they do not intend to call Hayes as a witness. They argued that it would be improper for defense attorneys to question her about the affair she had with a confidential informant. Hayes would frequently testify in court at the Hall of Justice before she was reassigned.
“Officer Christina Hayes is currently under internal investigation for misconduct relating to her relationship with a confidential informant,” wrote assistant U.S. Attorneys Hillary Irvin and Sophia Cooper. “That confidential information was not involved in this case.”
Potential questions about the misconduct would be “highly inflammatory and will serve only to mislead and confuse the jury,” the prosecutors added.
Defense attorneys believe that the case should be dismissed because of Hayes alleged misconduct. According to Elizabeth Falk, a federal public defender, “the case suffers from numerous infirmities and deficiencies of a constitutional magnitude— not the least of which is that the custodial officer of the drugs is under potential career-ending investigation for impeding a criminal investigation.”
Earlier this month a drug case against Nicol Palma was dismissed because of an issue with an SFPD officer witness. The SFPD officer has not been confirmed to be Hayes, but there is some speculation that it was.
Julia Fox, who is Hayes attorney, has described her as trustworthy and well-respected.
