SAN FRANCISCO — A Honduran national who was deported three times — and returned to sell drugs in the Tenderloin twice — has been sentenced to three years behind bars, records show.
Franklin Hernandez-Turcios has a history of arrests dating back to 2016 related to alleged drug sales in San Francisco. In his most recent case, he pleaded guilty to fentanyl sales and re-entering the United States after a prior deportation.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick sentenced Hernandez-Turcios to two concurrent three-year federal prison terms, after which he will be deported again, court records show.
The latest case stems from an April 2024 arrest where Hernandez-Turcios sold $20 worth of fentanyl to an undercover cop in San Francisco, and was found with nearly two ounces of the drug in a backpack. He was convicted in 2017 of selling methamphetamine, and was deported in 2016, 2019 and 2021, prosecutors said.
Hernandez-Turcios’ lawyer wrote in court records that he was struggling financially at the time of his arrest. He plans to gain work in construction after his next deportation, the lawyer said.
“Though he would not consider himself to be a person who suffers from a substance abuse disorder, Mr. Hernandez Turcios has fallen victim to the lure of substance abuse,” Assistant Federal Public Defender Candis Mitchell. “He would recreationally use cocaine on weekends and was using fentanyl right before he was arrested. He began using fentanyl after he began having pain in his kidneys and he did not have access to regular medical care.”