Honduran national who sold fentanyl in San Francisco's Tenderloin District sentenced to 4 years in prison
A 21-year-old Honduran national was sentenced to over four years in prison on Thursday for money laundering and selling drugs in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood, according to federal prosecutors.
Elbin Salvador Archaga-Ayestas will serve 50 months in federal prison for distribution of fentanyl and international money laundering, Patrick Robbins, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, said in a statement.
Archaga-Ayestas, who also goes by "Cuco", lived in Oakland and traveled to the Tenderloin in San Francisco to sell drugs, federal prosecutors said.
He sold multiple ounces of fentanyl to an undercover officer on May 11, 2023. When he was arrested on June 26, 2023, he had nearly 2.5 kilograms of fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In the months leading up to his arrest, Archaga-Ayestas sent proceeds from fentanyl sales, wiring over $10,000 on several occasions, to his family in Honduras through a money transmitting business, Envios Express, federal prosecutors said.
The transactions avoided Bank Secrecy Act reporting requirements by using multiple fake wire senders and multiple enlisted recipients in Honduras, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Archaga-Ayestas was charged by a superseding indictment on Dec. 7, 2023 with one count of distribution of 40 grams or more of fentanyl and three counts of international money laundering. On Nov. 7, 2024, he pleaded guilty to all four counts.
Besides his prison term, the court also ordered Archaga-Ayestas to serve four years of supervised release.
The case is among a series involving Honduran nationals coming to the Bay Area to deal drugs and fentanyl in particular.
On Monday, 26-year-old Henry Jovany Sevilla was given four years in federal prison for drug dealing in the Tenderloin District. Sevilla pleaded guilty in December 2024 after being caught engaging in three "hand-to-hand" drug sales in the Tenderloin in May 2024.
Also in May 2024, 25-year-old Miguel Ramos, was sentenced to a five-year prison term after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine base, cocaine, and heroin, according to federal officials.
In March 2024, 25-year-old Marcos Carcamo received a 48-month sentence and 25-year-old Raul Alexander Guisa-Ortega received a 36-month sentence after being convicted of selling drugs in the Tenderloin in separate trials.
At least six alleged drug dealers from Honduras have also been extradited from their country to face Bay Area charges with the help of Honduran authorities. The most recent were former Oakland resident Javier Marin-Gonzalez, 25, who was extradited in October 2024; and Gustavo Erazo, 49, extradited in December 2024.
Marin-Gonzalez fled to Honduras after being indicted in August 2023, while Erazo fled to Honduras following his arrest in Berkeley in November 2022, prosecutors said.
