SAN FRANCISCO—On December 20, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced that four people were charged for their role in narcotics trafficking that occurred in the Tenderloin District.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced that four people were charged in connection to suspected drug dealing in the Tenderloin. Albert Hernandez, 29, of San Francisco, Edwar Romero-Arteaga, 35, of San Francisco, Christian Gamez-Medina, 30, of Oakland, and Eduar Jose Rodriguez-Garcia, 21, of San Francisco were each arraigned on December 19 in San Francisco Superior Court. The alleged drug dealers were arrested in unrelated incidents by the San Francisco Police Department in a three-block area bounded by Turk Street to the north, Hyde Street to the east, Fulton Street to the south and Larkin Street to the west.
Hernandez is charged with multiple felonies including possession for sale of cocaine base (H&S 11351.5), possession for sale fentanyl (H&S 11351), possession for sale heroin (H&S 11351), possession for sale cocaine salt (H&S 11351), possession for sale methamphetamine (H&S 11378), and possession for sale of a controlled substance (H&S 11375(b)(1)). He is also being charged with giving false information to a police officer (PC 148.9(a)). The criminal complaint includes an allegation that the incident occurred while he was released on his own recognizance in another pending felony matter (PC 12022.1(b)). He pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all allegations.
Romero-Arteaga is charged with multiple felonies including possession for sale of cocaine base (H&S 11351.5), possession for sale fentanyl (H&S 11351), possession for sale methamphetamine (H&S 11378), possession for sale cocaine salt (H&S 11351), and maintenance of a place for selling or using a controlled substance (H&S 11366). The criminal complaint includes an allegation that this incident occurred while he was released on his own recognizance in two other pending felony matters (PC 12022.1(b)). He pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all allegations.
Gamez-Medina is charged with multiple felonies including possession for sale of cocaine base (H&S 11351.5), possession for sale fentanyl (H&S 11351) and possession for sale methamphetamine (H&S 11378). He is also charged with resisting, obstructing, delaying a peace officer or EMT (PC 148(a)(1)). The criminal complaint includes an allegation that the incident occurred while he was released on his own recognizance in another pending felony matter (PC 12022.1(b)). Gamez-Median pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all allegations.
Rodriguez-Garcia is charged with possession for sale fentanyl (H&S 11351) and possession for sale heroin (H&S 11351) with an allegation that this incident occurred while he was released on his own recognizance in another pending felony matter (PC 12022.1(b)). He pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations.
All four defendants have a court date on January 3, 2024, for a preliminary hearing.
The District Attorney’s Office moved to detain all four of the individuals pending trial because of the public safety risk they pose. The court granted the motion to detain without prejudice for each of the suspects arraigned and they each remain in custody at this time, no bail. The court will hear further arguments at the time of the preliminary hearings in those cases.
The District Attorney’s Office has filed 373 motions to detain the most egregious drug dealing suspects because of the extreme public safety risk they pose. Of the detention motions filed, the court has granted 38. From January 1 through December 14, the SFDA’s Office has been presented with and filed the most felony narcotics cases year over year since 2018 with 952 cases presented and 827 cases filed. In the same time frame, 302 felony narcotics cases have been convicted or pled guilty to another felony charge.
As of December 14, there are 563 individuals with open bench warrants who failed to appear for narcotics sales cases who were released by the court. Of these, 144 of the individuals in bench warrant status have more than one open case. Seven individuals have four open cases, and one individual has five open cases.
The cases are still under investigation by the San Francisco Police Department. Anyone with details is asked to call the SFPD Tip Line at 1-415-575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD.
