Another Honduran man busted for dealing fentanyl in San Francisco

Amy Larson
·3 min read

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A 28-year-old Honduran man was sentenced to prison this week for dealing fentanyl in San Francisco, a city with record-breaking drug overdose deaths. Esmun Moyses Moral-Raudales admitted he was a drug dealer in the Tenderloin neighborhood who profited off selling methamphetamine and fentanyl to users.

“Recidivist drug dealers who prey on the Tenderloin are a clear and present danger to our community, especially those who arm themselves with guns,” said United States Attorney Ismail Ramsey. “This office will marshal all resources needed to ensure that repeat players in the Tenderloin drug market face justice.”

Esmun Moyses Moral-Raudales was sentenced Monday to serve 80 months in prison for crimes including distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge James Donato.

Flowers lay on a sidewalk where a 16-year-old girl died from an overdose on Minna Street in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco. (Scott Strazzante /San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Flowers lay on a sidewalk where a 16-year-old girl died from an overdose on Minna Street in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco. (Scott Strazzante /San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

Moral-Raudales previously pleaded guilty in October. According to his plea agreement, Moral-Raudales admitted that, during two drug deals in the Tenderloin in January and February 2023, he sold a total of 103.8 grams of fentanyl and 95 grams of methamphetamine. He also admitted that at the time of his arrest in Oakland in March 2023, he had 317 grams of fentanyl in his car and a loaded ghost gun in his backpack.

When officers arrested the Honduran man, he was already on supervised release following a 2020 drug trafficking conviction for selling drugs in the Tenderloin.

“Moral-Raudales was given the opportunity to change his life after his first federal drug trafficking conviction. Instead, he recklessly chose to endanger our community by selling poison in the Tenderloin while arming himself with a weapon,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian Clark.

Moral-Raudales was immediately remanded into custody to begin serving his prison sentence on Monday. The case was the result of a months-long investigation by the DEA and the San Francisco Police Department.

4 kilograms of fentanyl seized from Honduran man in Oakland

Honduran nationals have a history of funneling drugs into SF for their own financial gain. Milton Joel Varela Arteaga, 27, was charged earlier this year with transporting and selling huge quantities of fentanyl in the Tenderloin. Prosecutors said he admitted to regularly dealing drugs in SF, even while he was on pretrial release.

More than 800 overdose deaths were recorded in San Francisco in 2023. Eighty percent of the deaths involved fentanyl.

Federal officials said anyone who buys pills from street or online drug dealers needs to be aware: just one pill can kill you. Many street drugs are now laced with deadly fentanyl without the user’s knowledge.

SF reached all-time high in overdose deaths last year

Fentanyl is a cheap opiate that can be diluted with cutting agents to create fake pills that mimic the effects of oxycodone, Percocet, and other drugs. The U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote, “Very small variations in the amount or quality of fentanyl create huge effects on the potency of the counterfeit pills and can easily cause death. Fentanyl has now become the leading cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.