SAN FRANCISCO — One of three women indicted last year on charges of selling fentanyl around the Bay Area has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 18 months, records show.
Jessy Banegas-Barahona, 32, was the least involved of three women indicted last year after drug agents raided her San Leandro residence and seized five pounds of fentanyl and $126,000 in cash. Her two co-defendants, Cristel Cruz-Banegas and Cesia Ramirez-Barahona have pending federal charges, court records show.
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All three defendants are related. Ramirez-Barahona is Banegas-Barahona’s sister and Cruz-Banegas is her niece, according to court filings. Ramirez-Barahona, who is pregnant, has shared a jail cell with Banegas-Barahona since they were indicted last year.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to the 18-month sentence. Prosecutors cited Banegas-Barahona’s rough upbringing in Honduras and the fact that she has “no known criminal history and was involved in only one controlled delivery of fentanyl over the course of this investigation.” Her lawyer wrote in court filings that she simply held a bag of fentanyl during a drug deal Ramirez-Barahona had negotiated with an undercover DEA agent.
A defense sentencing memo says that Banegas-Barahona came to the United States at age 29, to work as a painter in Indiana, after struggling in Honduras for years.
“She then came to San Francisco, where her sisters and niece lived, and ended up in a small apartment with several other people in the East Bay, supporting herself by preparing Honduran food to resell,” the defense sentencing memo says, adding that Banegas-Barahona expects to be deported after serving her prison term.
