Thrice-deported Honduran drug trafficker, released by San Francisco judge, is denied bail in federal court and labeled a 'flight risk' and 'community danger'
A thrice-deported drug dealer, packed off to Honduras in May 2024 after a drug trafficking conviction, appeared at San Francisco federal courthouse today – after again being arrested for peddling fentanyl in the city, only to be immediately released by a state judge at the Hall of Justice.
Prosecutors say Carlos Renan Acosta, 34, sold fentanyl to an undercover SFPD officer at the intersection of Hyde Street and Sacramento Street on June 4 2026. A search of the suspect turned up fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, oxycodone and more than $4,000 in cash.
No sooner was Acosta arrested than he was released by Teresa Estrada-Mullaney – a retired superior court judge from San Luis Obispo County. The visiting judge picked up local judicial customs fast, shrugged off Acosta’s illegal status and freed him to get back to crime.
Two days later a federal judge inked an arrest warrant prepared by probation officials and Acosta was then nabbed by federal agents from whom he fled after arriving at the Hall of Justice for his next hearing.
Acosta was last convicted in April 2024 of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine under federal prosecutors’ lenient ‘fast track’ scheme and deported the next month.
This stemmed from an SFPD investigation into a man matching Acosta’s description trying to sell a firearm on Turk Street in the Tenderloin. While no gun was found, police did discover 107 bags containing variously fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin in his backpack.
He was previously deported from the U.S. in 2013 and 2015.
Today, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson, Acosta made another audacious bid for release.
“The defendant has proven his unwillingness to abide by his court conditions,” said assistant U.S. attorney Galen Phillips. “He was arrested doing the exact same thing as his underlying federal conviction.”
“The moment he is released, your honor, he will be a ghost,” Phillips warned. “We will not see him again.”
“When he was arrested he was in possession of quantities of drugs and cash that demonstrate he was engaged in significant drug dealing while he was on supervised release,” said Judge Hixson, refusing to release him. “He fled from law enforcement and, when caught, refused to identify himself to police. This conduct while on supervised release collectively shows that the defendant is a risk of flight and a danger to the community.”
Hixson was unmoved by defense representations that his partner of 11 years, who lives in the Bay Area with two children she shares with Acosta, would be a sufficient guarantee he would not flee.
The court heard that Acosta owns property in Honduras.
Acosta, who earlier pleaded not guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and denied probation violations, will next appear before U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley on September 9 for further proceedings.
The case continues.
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