SAN FRANCISCO – Alejandro Alvarez was sentenced to 160 months in prison for drug trafficking charges in connection with a scheme to distribute more than 65 pounds of methamphetamine, announced United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Acting Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris. The sentence was handed down by the Honorable William H. Orrick, U.S. District Judge.
The sentence follows a guilty verdict issued by a federal jury on April 14, 2022, after a four-day trial. Evidence at trial showed that Alvarez, 46, of San Francisco, had been distributing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of methamphetamine and heroin monthly at the time that San Francisco Police Department officers executed a search warrant at his residence. Law enforcement officers recovered about 65 pounds of methamphetamine with a street retail value of more than $1.5 million.
The trial evidence demonstrated that the investigation began when officers with the San Francisco Police Department learned that an individual who went by the name “Chewy” was selling heroin and other drugs. Eventually officers developed enough evidence to obtain and execute a search warrant on Alvarez’s apartment. They recovered over $46,000 in bulk cash, some 65 pounds of methamphetamine, and other indicia of drug trafficking. Evidence at trial showed that Alvarez managed a sophisticated drug distribution operation out of his apartment on Sanchez Street in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood. Text messages between Alvarez and his customers (including their names, transaction dates, drug quantities, and drug types) matched up with a ledger found on Alvarez’s bed that demonstrated an operation capable of distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of drugs annually. Mr. Alvarez’s ledger showed that in the week before his arrest, he sold $15,300 worth of methamphetamine and heroin.
On February 20, 2020, a federal grand jury indicted Alvarez, charging him with one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams and more of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A)(viii). Pursuant to the jury’s verdict, Alvarez was found guilty of the sole count in the indictment.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Orrick ordered the defendant to serve a five-year period of supervised release, to begin after Alvarez completes his prison term.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Tartakovsky and Alexis James prosecuted the case with the assistance of Lance Libatique. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the San Francisco Police Department, United States Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.