Alleged Bay Area `professional drug dealer' linked to 54-pound fentanyl drug seizure

SAN FRANCISCO >> Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a man who was allegedly caught with 21/2 pounds of fentanyl during a traffic stop in Oakland and whom authorities linked to a raid where 54 pounds of the deadly drug were seized, court records show.

Darwin Licona, 29, was indicted this month on charges of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, which carries up to 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine, court records show. Additionally, he has pending state charges related to alleged drug dealing in San Francisco, in 2020, prosecutors said.

In a motion to keep Licona in custody while the case is pending, federal prosecutors described him as a self-admitted “professional drug dealer.” The indictment stems from a June arrest in Oakland, where patrol cops searched a parked car containing Licona and another person and found 21/2 pounds of fentanyl bagged up next to the passenger seat where Licona was sitting, according to the criminal complaint.

Prosecutors also wrote that when Licona was arrested in January at a San Francisco residence, authorities found 54 pounds of fentanyl, 3.7 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 16,000 counterfeit Xanax pills and other suspected drugs, as well as more than $13,000 in currency. The drugs were found “in the common area” of the shared residence, prosecutors said.

Licona's attorney has countered that he should be released to a drug treatment facility in the East Bay and pointed out that he has no criminal convictions. For now, he remains at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and is not due in court again until late March.