OAKLAND — A local resident has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to selling an undercover law enforcement official what amounted to 1.4 pounds of fentanyl over several meet-ups, court records show.
Denilson Velasquez-Sevilla, 25, made the initial sale of roughly one ounce to an undercover officer back in August 2023 in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, according to court records. The undercover officer got his phone number and bought fentanyl from him four additional times in Oakland, until Velasquez-Sevilla was arrested last January.
The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, on Sept. 20. It is a compromise between the 41-month term prosecutors wanted, and the defense request of no additional jail time, court records show.
Velasquez-Sevilla’s lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Joyce Leavitt, wrote in court filings that Velasquez-Sevilla was trying to “earn money” to help his family back in Honduras after his father’s death. He will be deported when his prison term is over, Leavitt wrote.
“As the oldest boy in his family, Mr. Velasquez-Sevilla came to the United States with the dream of escaping the extreme poverty which his family suffered in Honduras, but had trouble finding stable employment, was homeless and living in his car for an extended period of time, and ultimately became involved in the instant offense,” Leavitt wrote in court filings. “He accepts responsibility and understands that he must now face the consequences of his actions.”
Prosecutors urged Tigar to consider the 41-month term, arguing his crimes should be viewed in the context of the country’s fentanyl epidemic, with fatal overdoses continuing to dwarf cities’ murder rates nationwide.
“For Americans aged 18-45, the leading cause of death is fentanyl overdose,” Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Glimcher wrote in a sentencing memo. He later added, “Although the defendant faces likely removal from the United States, the seriousness of the crime needs to be emphasized by attaching a custodial sentence as punishment. Prison time will also have a deterrent effect.”
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