Reversing prior court order, federal judge jails suspect

He’s accused of selling big amount of meth, fentanyl

SAN JOSE >> In a decision that reverses an order issued by a magistrate judge last week, a federal judge sided with prosecutors and agreed to keep a 22-yearold Oakland man locked up while he awaits the resolution on charges that he was distributing large amounts of meth and fentanyl to Tenderloin-area drug dealers.

Gutsabo Ramos, 22, is charged with distribution of controlled substances, a federal offenses that carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. During a search of his Oakland home, authorities say they found nearly a pound of both fentanyl and meth, as well as an AR-15style rifle that didn’t have a serial number.

At a court hearing Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila ruled that Ramos was both a danger to the community and a flight risk and ordered him to continue to be incarcerated at Santa Rita Jail. Late last week, U. S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler allowed Ramos to be released to house arrest after his girlfriend agreed to act as a surety on his bond. Prosecutors appealed Beeler’s order to Davila.

Davila said it was a “close call” for him, but he cited two main factors that he said gave him overriding concerns about releasing Ramos: the “ghost gun” found at his home and his more than dozens arrests, as well as documented failures to appear in other criminal cases, over a twoyear period.

“I’ve looked at this case and his state charges suggest pattern of illegal activity and suggests to the court he will not follow court orders,” Davila said. He added, though, that he agreed with Beeler that jail is “not the best place” for Ramos and that he hopes Ramos will make a positive change in his young life.

Prosecutors argued that Ramos — who is here illegally — would simply flee the moment he was released. Ramos’ attorney, Alanna Coopersmith, argued that his girlfriend would ensure he followed court orders and pointed out that despite his numerous arrests, he has only one felony conviction. She said Ramos has multiple birthdates on identification forms and that his true age is 17, not 22, which would make him ineligible to be incarcerated at Santa Rita or to be prosecuted federally as an adult.

“He’s a young man who only has a sixth grade education,” Coopersmith said in court Tuesday. “He came to this country not to sell fentanyl … He came to this country to further himself, to work, to get an education.”

Davila, though, said that the presence of the gun was “chilling” and that though he may not have intended to become a drug dealer, “He finds himself in court on these charges.”

“I don’t think he’s the supplier, I don’t think he’s Mr. Big, if you want to put it that way … but the evidence suggests that whoever the supplier is reposes an amount of trust and confidence in this young man,” Davila said.

According to court records, Ramos previously had violated a court order to stay away from the Tenderloin and allegedly elbowed a San Francisco police officer who was attempting to arrest him in a prior incident. When authorities searched his home earlier this month, Ramos took a bag where the drugs later were found and barricaded himself in the bedroom, prosecutors said.

“He isn’t a typical Tenderloin street-level drug dealer … we’re talking about drugs in the pounds and kilos,” assistant U. S. Attorney Yoosun Koh said in court Tuesday. She added that fentanyl is responsible for the majority of overdose deaths in the Bay Area, which have spiked for the past two years.