Twice-deported drug dealer has bail decision reversed after appeal
A twice-deported professional drug-dealer from Honduras will stay behind bars after Government attorneys appealed a release decision on the grounds that both proposed custodians had themselves been previously deported, and one had also been arrested for drug trafficking in the Tenderloin.
Jonsan Valle-Rodriguez was arrested on December 12 2023 after a joint operation by SFPD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. A search of his room, and a car in which his foreign passport was found, turned up over four pounds of fentanyl and two pounds of methamphetamine.
A further four pounds of fentanyl and $127,000 in cash were found elsewhere in the Oakland home he shared with his sister. She had come to police attention after selling drugs to undercover officers on five occasions in fall 2023, four times in San Francisco’s Tenderloin and once in Oakland.
Yesterday U.S. Magistrate Judge Alex Tse ordered Valle-Rodriguez’ release on an unsecured $50,000 bond and an ankle monitor. Tse refused a request to stay his order pending an orderly appeal, leaving prosecutors with no choice but to ask a district judge to intervene immediately.
“Mr Valle-Rodriguez is looking at potentially…a decade in prison followed by almost certain removal back to Honduras so there is a strong incentive to flee,” said U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley this morning as she reversed Tse’s decision at an emergency appeal hearing.
“This was just in December of 2023. It was well known that fentanyl kills – and has killed lots of people. [It was] after the crackdown had begun so everybody was aware of what was going on.”
The court heard that the defendant had travelled to the Bay Area last year after having lived in Texas for a decade since he arrived from Honduras.
In fall 2023 Valle-Rodriguez’ sister, Maria, repeatedly sold fentanyl and methamphetamine to undercover police officers – four times in San Francisco and once in Oakland. Prosecutors say she peddled her wares at the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Hyde Street in the Tenderloin district.
Having obtained a search warrant, a joint SFPD-DEA task force raided her home on Meadow Street in Oakland. The search turned up eight pounds of fentanyl, two pounds of methamphetamine and $127,000 in cash. Half of the fentanyl and all of the methamphetamine was found either in Valle Rodriguez’ room or in a silver 2004 Mazda in the glovebox of which his Honduran passport was stored.
Over a series of federal court appearances in late December 2023 and January 2024 U.S. Magistrate Judge Alex Tse sought further information about the defendant’s circumstances and whether he could be released without posing either a risk of flight or a danger the public.
Ultimately he decided on January 16 2024 to order Valle-Rodriguez’ immediate release on an unsecured $50,000 bond and fitted with an electronic monitor. The defense had put forward two people to act as custodians of the defendant to ensure he abided by his conditions of release.
In an ‘emergency motion to stay release’ filed that day, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ivana Djak complained that that Jonsan Valle Rodriguez’ proposed custodians each had themselves been previously deported and one had also been arrested for drug trafficking in the Tenderloin.
Defense attorneys countered that Valle Rodriguez had strong ties to the United States and had two biological children who were U.S. citizens. As such, they said, he was very unlikely to flee.
At a hearing this morning U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley appeared unimpressed with that argument.
“Mr Valle-Rodriguez is looking at…potentially a decade in prison followed by almost certain removal back to Honduras so there is a strong incentive to flee,” she said.
“He was living in Houston for 10 years. Why did he come here?” the judge asked. “You know why it is: because you can sell drugs in San Francisco and you can get away with it. I think that’s the inference to be drawn.”
The judge expressed concern that the proposed custodians’ precarious immigration position might mean they feel forced not to be honest with authorities about Mr Valle Rodriguez’ activities.
“I’ve never actually released anyone to custodians with this record and in this situation.”
After sparing a kind word for the “very careful” judgment of the magistrate judge, Judge Corley remanded Valle-Rodriguez to custody and ordered the parties to appear next on February 21.
The case continues.
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