Tenderloin Drug Dealer Sentenced To Three Years In Prison

SAN FRANCISCO – Luis Villarreal was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release for possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Chris Nielsen.  The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Edward M. Chen, United States District Judge.

Villarreal, 23, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty to the charge on May 8, 2019.  According to the plea agreement, Villarreal admitted that on February 25, 2019, he was arrested on an outstanding warrant while outside the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco.  At the time of Villarreal’s arrest, San Francisco Police Department officers found him in possession of 160 individually wrapped baggies of fentanyl, 37 individually wrapped baggies of methamphetamine, 29 individual bindles of heroin, and 25 Zubsolv pills—a controlled substance that generally may not be possessed without a license or prescription.  In the plea agreement, Villarreal admitted that he knowingly possessed and intended to distribute all of the recovered narcotics.    

On March 21, 2019, a federal grand jury indicted Villarreal, charging him with one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin, and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.  Villarreal pleaded guilty to the fentanyl charge and the remaining charges were dismissed at sentencing.  

Villarreal was taken into federal custody on March 28, 2019, and has remained in custody since that time.  He will begin serving the sentence immediately.   

Assistant United States Attorney Sloan Heffron is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Kimberly Richardson.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the DEA and the San Francisco Police Department.