SAN FRANCISCO — A 24-year-old man has been charged in federal court with crimes that carry a potential life sentence for allegedly possessing 7.8 pounds of fentanyl and other drugs, court records show.
Miguel Ramos was indicted in December on charges of possessing more than 400 grams of fentanyl for distribution, as well as similar charges for methamphetamine, crack cocaine and heroin. The charges stem from an October arrest in which San Francisco police allegedly found the 7.8 pounds of fentanyl, two ounces of meth and approximately one-ounce quantities of heroin and cocaine in Ramos’ backpack.
The fentanyl distribution charge carries a maximum term of life in federal prison, the court indictment says.
Ramos’ Oct. 8 arrest was publicized by San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who announced in a news release that Ramos had enough fentanyl to wipe out the entire population of San Francisco. Federal prosecutors subsequently moved to keep Ramos in federal custody while the case is pending, arguing that fentanyl is so easy to overdose from that he was a danger to the community.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler did order Ramos detained without bail, but did not seem swayed by federal prosecutors’ argument on the dangers of the drug. In her detention order, Beeler noted Ramos, “a native of Honduras, lacks significant ties to the Northern District of California and does not possess the type of employment or family stability that would reasonably assure his appearance at future federal court proceedings.”
In their motion for detention, prosecutors wrote that San Francisco officers stopped Ramos in the early morning of Oct. 8 because he matched the description of a suspect they were looking for who brandished a gun and assaulted a victim hours earlier. As they were handcuffing Ramos, he allegedly “twisted his body away, forcing the officers to physically restrain him.” The drugs, as well as approximately $800 in cash and a gram scale, were found in Ramos’ backpack, prosecutors alleged.
Ramos is being held in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, where he was transferred from San Francisco County Jail on Dec. 19. He cannot be bailed out and is next due in court Jan. 10.