Twice-bailed fentanyl dealer handcuffed in court after astonished judge reads rap sheet
A twice-bailed woman arrested during an SFPD bust of a fentanyl stash house was handcuffed in court this morning when an astonished judge read her rap sheet, concluded she was “a very grave danger to the public” and ordered deputies to immediately take her into custody.
Daniela Hernandez-Barahona was one of a quartet of Hondurans detained last week after police search of an Oakland home turned up five pounds of fentanyl and other narcotics plus more than $50,000 in cash. The operation was ballyhooed by SFPD acting chief Paul Yep who, in an effort to avoid mentioning illegal alien Hondurans, lauded the arrest of four “Oakland residents”.
Having immediately secured bail Hernandez-Barahona arrived in department 10 of San Francisco’s Hall of Justice just after 9:00am today.
“I don’t have much concern she is going to come back to court as I do she’s going to continue to sell narcotics,” said Superior Court Judge Gerardo Sandoval during the short arraignment hearing.
“She is in this large network of people,” said the judge, presumably referring to Hondurans, “who are probably in some way pressured…she is going to go back to doing what she’s been doing and it is a very grave danger to the public. So she is remanded into the custody of the Sheriff’s Department — there is clear and convincing evidence that she is a danger to public safety.”
But the soft-hearted judge told 20-year-old Hernandez-Barahona that he might be willing to give her detention a second look next week if she could show that she no longer plans to live in the home she evidently shares with other drug traffickers.
Assistant district attorney Reve Bautista had earlier drawn the judge’s attention to the defendant’s open drugs case, from four months ago, in which she was arrested with 375g of fentanyl and confessed to police that she traveled to San Francisco most days to sell narcotics and made $300-$400 each day.
She told the court that, when Hernandez-Barahona was arrested last week, in addition to 53g of fentanyl and 28g of methamphetamine found in her Luis Vuitton handbag, more fentanyl was found in her bedroom and in several other places throughout the house, including behind a kitchen stove and behind bathroom cabinets.
“We believe this defendant, obviously, has basically ignored any warning from the first incident and is continuing to sell fentanyl to the people in San Francisco,” said Bautista.
“We believe she is an extreme danger to the public.”
After arriving in court, Hernandez-Barahona sat chatting with a defendant in another drugs case, Elbin Cruzcruz, with whom she appeared to be familiar. Cruzcruz was permitted by Sandoval to remain out of custody but received a warning that, if he were arrested again, he would be jailed.
Both defendants enjoyed the assistance of a Spanish language interpreter in court.
Sandoval set a bail review hearing on June 30 and a pre-hearing conference for July 9.
Hernandez-Barahona pleaded not guilty to five charges of transportation and possession for sale of narcotics. Two of the others with whom she lives, Jhonatan Santiago Diaz and Gustavo Chavez-Meza, are also presently in custody.
The case continues.
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