SAN FRANCISCO—On Monday, January 29, it was announced by the SF District Attorney’s Office that nine individuals were charged in connection to suspected drug dealing in the Tenderloin District. Five of the nine suspects charged were alleged to have been arrested for drug dealing in the region while released on their own recognizance by the court in other felony narcotics cases.
All nine suspects were arraigned on January 26, and each pleaded not guilty to their specific charges and allegations in San Francisco Superior Court. Each individual is alleged to have sold drugs to undercover officers with the San Francisco Police Department.
According to the SFDA’s Office, seven of the nine individuals were detained pending trial because of the public safety risk they pose. The court granted the motions to detain without prejudice for six people and set bail for one individual. The court will hear additional arguments at the time of the preliminary hearings in those cases.
Four of the five individuals alleged to have been dealing drugs while released on their own recognizance were detained; the court set bail in the amount of $50,000 for the other individual. All remain in custody at this time.
Two individuals were released by the court, one with electronic monitoring, a 150 yard stay away order from the corner of Ellis Street and Hyde Street and search conditions and the other with a 150 yard stay away order from Eddy Street and Larkin Street.
In 2023, the SFDA’s Office was presented with and filed the most felony narcotics cases since 2018 with 998 cases presented and 867 cases filed. In 2023, 323 felony narcotics cases were convicted or pled guilty to another felony charge.
There is currently a total bench warrant status (755) with over (579) pending before the court. As of January 18, 2024, there are 567 individuals with open bench warrants who failed to appear for narcotics sales cases who were released by the court. A total of 146 of these 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 individuals charged included: Aguilar-Dominguez, 24001426; Artiaga-Aguilar, 24001410; Cruz, 24001408; Escoto, 24001409; Espinoza-Olibas, 24001398, released with stay away order and search condition.; Maradiaga, 24001401; Maradiaga-Gaitan, 24001423; Zuniga-Hernandez, 24001402; Vasquez-Vasquez, 24001411, released with electronic monitoring, stay away order and search condition.
