A drug kingpin who pleaded guilty to supplying street-level dealers in SF's Tenderloin with about two tons (1775 kilograms) of meth and cocaine between June 2018 and his arrest in 2019, fled the country while out on bond three years ago. But he was found, extradited, and has now been sentenced.
Victor Viera-Chirinos, 42, was one of 14 defendants who were indicted in August 2019 on an array of drug charges. As the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California explains in a release, Viera-Chirinos was "a high-level manager responsible for overseeing portions of the network’s drug trafficking activities." And among those 14 other defendants were his family members, Jorge and Eduardo Viera-Chirinos, as the Chronicle reports.
Viera-Chirinos, at first, cooperated with federal law enforcement, and he was released on bond in April 2020, pending trial. He pled guilty in January 2021 to one count of conspiring to possess and distribute controlled substances, and he was scheduled for sentencing on June 2, 2021. One week before his sentencing hearing, Viera-Chirinos fled to Honduras, while still out on bond.
In a similar story, 30-year-old Mayer Benegas-Medina, also a Honduran national, was indicted in December 2020 as part of a separate conspiracy to distribute fentanyl in the Tenderloin, and he also fled the country back to Honduras in March 2021.
Both men were located in Honduras and extradited to the US, and both have now been back in court to face sentencing.
"Victor Viera-Chirinos thought he could evade consequences for his criminal conduct by fleeing to Honduras prior to his sentencing,” U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey said in a statement, following Viera-Chirinos's extradition. “The reach of the government is long and we are determined to assign the resources necessary to eradicate drug dealing from our neighborhoods and punish those who are found guilty of violating the drug trafficking laws."
Viera-Chirinos was extradited in May and sentenced in early September to 82 months (nearly seven years) in prison.
Benegas-Medina pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced on September 24 to 34 months in prison.
