Drug suspects in a stunning 82 SF cases have already received “Get out of jail free” cards courtesy an SFPD officer accused of having an inappropriate relationship with an informant, including one suspect busted with 11 pounds of fentanyl, and more may yet walk.
When we learned in late June that SFPD Tenderloin Station Narcotics Unit officer Christina Hayes was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with an informant potentially involved with her cases, we reported that “multiple cases” against drug suspects may have to be dropped. But we might have underestimated “multiple.” A Wednesday report in the Chronicle detailed that the DA’s office was forced to review 132 drug cases in which arrests had already been made, but now charges may have to be tossed entirely.
Prosecutors are reviewing 132 existing cases tied to a local narcotics officer accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a confidential informant, according to documents obtained by The Chronicle. https://t.co/kNFxkXHXLG
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) July 26, 2023
DA office spokesperson Randy Quezada admitted in that article, “To date, 82 cases have been dismissed.” The office would not identify which cases, and it’s still unclear whether the 82 dismissed cases are part of the overall 132 under review, or whether it’s 82 cases dismissed plus another 132 under review.
The scandal threatens to undo thousands of hours of work at a time when San Francisco is seeking to confront a drug crisis that has killed more than 1,000 people since January 2022. https://t.co/dV9tG6QS2x
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) July 27, 2023
So the Chronicle did some digging in a new piece today and found examples of which cases have been dismissed outright. They discovered one dismissed case of a defendant busted with a reported 10 pounds of fentanyl, plus “other drugs, a rifle with a drum and three pistols.” Another dismissed case the Chronicle found was a suspect arrested with 11 pounds of fentanyl.
Mind you, this comes at a time when Mayor Breed and Governor Newsom have been calling out the cavalry of extra Highway Patrol officers and sheriff’s deputies in a drug trade crackdown. And also at a time when SFPD is being showered with $25 million in bonus overtime, plus an extra $60 million in Mayor Breed’s new budget.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey, formerly the PR head for SFPD, has experience polishing such turds for the department, and put a brave face on the scandal.
“It’s absolutely frustrating,” Dorsey told the Chronicle. “But we also have to be aware that the criminal justice system is premised on legitimacy and if something undermines that, we have to take it seriously.”
Supervisor Aaron Peskin was less charitable. “It is unconscionable, it is an unforced error, and it’s an embarrassment,” Peskin said to the Chron. “There’s no other way of saying it. Things like this can’t continue to happen.”
This huge scandal that is resulting in drug dealers (one with 11 pounds of fentanyl!) getting their cases dismissed is getting zero attention from the San Francisco crime crowd: https://t.co/p4gqPrZ0Lp
— Morgan Clendaniel (@MClendaniel) July 27, 2023
Needless to say, if this had happened under DA Chesa Boudin, Twitter’s loudest SF anti-drug complainers and critics would be calling for Boudin to be put in the electric chair for letting possibly more than 80 drug dealers “walk free.”
But this is under DA Jenkins, and since it’s an SFPD fuck-up, there's been no complaint from them so far. This scandal could still explode further in scope, and even the staunchest defenders of SFPD may call for reforms and more SFPD consequences before it’s over.
Image: @SFPDTenderloin via Twitter
