Heartbroken family of teacher killed by fentanyl decry lenient sentence proposed for Honduran, long indulged by SF judges, who sold the drug
The heartbroken family of a San Francisco teacher who died after taking fentanyl sold in the guise of cocaine has condemned the lenient prison term prosecutors have recommended for the Honduran dealer who peddled the drug – and has pleaded with a federal judge to throw the book at him instead.
Gabriel Clark, 34, was killed after taking drugs that a friend bought from a man he knew as Catracho – who delivered them to a SoMa apartment on July 2 2023.
That man, Hanti Gamez, was arrested weeks later following a complex sting operation involving local police and federal authorities.
Investigators found a gun and half a kilo of fentanyl in his room.
“The defendant…was given 14 opportunities to change his behavior but chose to continue endangering lives,” wrote the victim’s mother in a letter to the court ahead of Gamez’ sentencing next week.
“A proposed sentence of six to eight years does not reflect the gravity of his actions or the harm he has caused,” she added.
Gamez earlier pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The maximum terms for each offense are 40 years and 10 years respectively.
Under the terms of a plea agreement a sentence of between six and eight years will be recommended to the judge. Prosecutors are asking for the eight year term.
The proposed sentence would be markedly more lenient than those given to other defendants in similar cases elsewhere in the country in recent months – principally a reflection of which charges local federal prosecutors preferred and their willingness to entertain such a lenient plea agreement.
It leaves prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco open to an accusation of being weak-kneed in the face of extraordinary criminality.
Gamez, 37, has been arrested 14 times in the last decade and has been released by judges at San Francisco’s Hall of Justice, either immediately or after a few months’ custody, on each occasion.
Other family members, who paid tribute to Clark’s “charisma, warmth and generosity,” submitted a remarkable series of letters to the court in which they implored the judge to impose the maximum sentence possible on the defendant.
“The proposed sentence does not reflect the gravity of his crimes.”
Gabriel Clark’s sister
“My brother…showed outstanding courage, sympathy and support to all those around him,” wrote Mr Clark’s brother.
“He deserves better than this result,” he added.
“The proposed sentence…,” wrote his sister, “does not reflect the gravity of his crimes.”
“Gabe dedicated his life to uplifting this community and I urge the court to do the same by imposing the maximum sentence,” she said.
The final decision will be that of U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney. Gamez will appear before her for sentencing on March 12 at San Francisco federal courthouse.
On the morning of July 2 2023 Gamez – who went by the nickname ‘Catracho’, a slang Spanish term meaning Honduran – met with a buyer at the corner of Clara and 6th Streets in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood and sold one gram of what he said was cocaine.
The buyer returned to his apartment and shared the drug with two friends after which all passed out. One of those with whom the drug had been shared – teacher Gabriel Clark – failed to regain consciousness and was later declared dead at the scene by emergency personnel.
Gamez had in fact sold his buyer fentanyl and Clark had succumbed to a fentanyl overdose having ingested ten times the lethal amount.
Described by his father in a letter to the court as “kind, sensitive and talented”, Clark had dedicated his life to education and taught underprivileged children in Oakland for a decade. He had just been offered a new position as supervisor and trainer for a well-known teaching organization and was celebrating this professional success when he made the decision to take what he thought was cocaine with friends.
After Clark’s death, at the instigation of his family, a joint SFPD and Drug Enforcement Administration task force identified Gamez as the drug dealer involved and set out to ensnare him in a sting operation.
On July 9 and July 11 Gamez sold fentanyl and cocaine to an undercover police officer – on both occasions he appeared to retrieve the drugs from inside of the Gateway Inn at 438 O’Farrell.
He was arrested on August 9 2023. A search uncovered 475 grams of fentanyl, 209 grams of cocaine, 31 grams of methamphetamine and 17 grams of heroin. Officers also found a loaded gun on a bed.
Gamez earlier pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl – which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.
“Defendant Gamez was a professional,” wrote assistant U.S. attorney Kevin Barry in a sentencing memorandum provided to the court.
“He had multiple drugs for sale, including fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. He also had a critical tool of his trade – a loaded firearm.”
Barry said that the eight year term he proposed “was necessary for deterrence.”
There would be no added benefit in imposing a sentence of more than six years.”
Assistant federal public defender Ned Smock
“This sentence is quite harsh for a man who had never spent more than three months in jail,” wrote assistant federal public defender Ned Smock of the six year prison term proposed by the defense.
“There would be no added benefit in imposing a sentence of more than six years,” he added.
Smock maintained that Gamez had engaged in some legitimate work since arriving in San Francisco “approximately nine years ago” to join family members who were already here. He then became a drug user himself which “clouded his judgment” and led to him turning to dealing.
The choice of charge preferred by federal prosecutors and the length of the sentence proposed stands in contrast with the way similar offenses are dealt with elsewhere.
Recent federal prosecutions in other parts of the U.S. for similar, if not exactly the same, conduct have resulted in far more severe prison terms for the perpetrators.
In January Johnny Neighbors, of South Dakota, who sold a fentanyl pill to a woman who took it and died as a result, received a 22 year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to ‘distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death’ – a crime with a statutory minimum term of 20 years.
Also in January Courtney Green was sentenced to 20 years by a federal court in Texas, after pleading guilty to ‘possession with intent to distribute fentanyl’ after selling fentanyl to a buyer in Celina, TX who subsequently died of pulmonary edema and congestion. His accomplice, Tiffane Chantial Volz, was sentenced to more than 19 years’ imprisonment.
In February, Maurice Stewart, of Cincinnati, was sentenced to 15 years’ federal imprisonment for selling fentanyl pills, in the guise of percocet, to a man subsquently found dead on his bathroom floor. He pleaded guilty to ‘possession with intent to distribute fentanyl’ in a plea bargain in which prosecutors dropped the charge of ‘distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death’.
Also last month, Michael Knight, of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, was sentenced to more than 16 years in federal prison for distributing cocaine which resulted in the death of a young woman from Dubuque, Iowa.
In February Okoyte Gaston, of Martinsville, Virginia, was sentenced to 18 years after he sold cocaine laced with fentanyl to three people two of whom – a courting couple – died.
And, in February, Mandrell Antwoin Hull was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment by a federal judge in Georgia after pleading guilty to ‘possession with intent to distribute cocaine’ and ‘possession of a firearm by a convicted felon’. Prosecutors say Hull had “a lengthy criminal history”.
Also in February Dre’Shaun Burns of Omaha, Nebraska received a 14 year federal sentence having sold fentanyl on more than dozen occassions to a police informant. When arrested he was found with two guns and 371 grams of “fentanyl analogue”.
Aspects of Gamez’ conduct – he was a previously-deported illegal alien, he was armed, he dealt staggering quantities of narcotics and he had been arrested 14 times in San Francisco – suggest that his conduct easily warranted a sentence in this range.
Superior court judges Gordon, Darwin & Van Aken and District Judge Chesney
Gamez was first arrested in the late evening of October 20 2019 near the intersection of Larkin and Geary Streets. SFPD officers found him with a ‘decoy’ soda can in which was contained individual bags of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
He was released by Judge Christine Van Aken at his arraignment three days later after pleading not guilty to four felony charges of possession for sale of narcotics. A month later the district attorney moved to dismiss all of the charges and terminate a stay away order.
Court records from 2021 provide a snapshot of the catalog of leniency shown to the Honduran.
Gamez was on bail (in case #21002801) when he was arrested for selling cocaine, breaking a window and giving a false identity to police (#21005967). Less than a week later he was released on his own recognizance by Judge Alexandra Gordon.
One month after that he was brought back to court on new charges of dealing fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine (#21007524) and was released 50 days later, on September 9 2021, having been given a ‘time served’ sentence by Judge Gordon.
Within five days of release Gamez was back in custody facing new charges of selling fentanyl and meth (#21009183) but was freed again on September 27 2021.
37 days later he was again in custody charged with selling cocaine and heroin and was released to home detention with an ankle monitor by Judge Richard Darwin two days later (#21010990) but remained in custody until November 22 2021.
Gamez’ fate is in the hands of U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney – regarded as a careful and particular judge who was formerly an assistant district attorney, and then a superior court judge, in San Francisco.
Aligned neither with the handful of her colleagues who refuse to countenance lenient ‘fast track’ sentences for foreign drug dealers, nor with the majority who are happy to rubber-stamp them, Chesney takes a case-by-case approach and demands that prosecutors spell out why the interests of justice are served by their proposed disposition each time they appear.
Almost all publicly-available data about the numbers of illegal aliens dealt with under the fast track scheme originates in Chesney’s courtroom, and as a result of her close questioning of prosecutors and her insistence that they come to court prepared to answer her detailed questions.
A spokeswoman for acting U.S. attorney Patrick Robbins declined to comment.
This story has been updated.
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