U.S. Attorney, SFPD charge 8 with drug trafficking charges in the Tenderloin
U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson.
SAN FRANCISCO - Federal law enforcement agencies and the San Francisco Police Department on Wednesday announced charges against eight people on drug trafficking charges in the Tenderloin.
At a news conference, authorities said that in all, they have charged 230 defendants as part of the operation, which includes charges of drug and human trafficking, firearms, robbery and child pornography.
These drug pushers mostly live in the East Bay and come to the Tenderloin to sell their deadly wares, authorities said. All were taken into custody last week, but the indictment was made public on Wednesday.
The indicted defendants have been identified as Emilson Jonathan Cruz Mayorquin, 23; Leydis Yaneth Cruz, 42; Ivan Mauro Mayorquin, 35; Pamela Carrero, 20; Ana Maldonado, 22; Adonis Torres, 33; Mayer Benegas-Medina, 27; and Gustabo Alfonso Ramos, 22.
They are all East Bay residents and are accused of regularly traveling to the city's Tenderloin neighborhood to sell drugs like heroin and fentanyl.
Prosecutors said the group worked as a team, as several of them are family members, in order to engage in street-level drug sales and supply drugs for resale to multiple drug distributors.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California David L. Anderson said the Tenderloin is a wonderful neighborhood but is "being smothered by lawlessness" and that drug prices are abnormally low there because prosecution pressure is low.
"No neighborhood should be designated a law-free zone where dangerous drugs can be bought and sold with impunity," Anderson said.
Fentanyl is now the drug of choice for those selling drugs, authorities said, and has caused the deaths of 300 people in San Francisco. The drug is estimated to be 50 times stronger than heroin and is being sought to enhance other drug experiences, authorities said.
SFPD said since October, Tenderloin police station officers used the life-saving drug, Narcan, over 100 times to reverse opioid overdoses.
Anderson said a wire tap that aided in the indictments captured discussion of law enforcement staffing levels and their locations throughout the neighborhood.
The conference was hosted by U.S. Attorney Anderson, Toby Schwartz, Asst. Special Agent in Charge Drug Enforcement Administration; Tatum King, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations; and Michael Redmond, Asst. Chief, San Francisco Police Department.
Bay City News contributed to this report.