The SF-Mendo-Humboldt Fentanyl Pipeline is Surging, Overdoses are Rising, the Mendo DA Warns of Reductions in Prison Sentences
Tyler Nathan Trujillo, age 30 — convicted of transporting fentanyl for sale.
Two Humboldt County men have pled guilty in Mendocino County to transporting fentanyl purchased in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.
On February 11, 2022, a Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office deputy observed a Ford Mustang occupied by Eureka men, 70-year-old Robin Bradshaw and 30-year-old Tyler Trujillo, make abrupt maneuvers that suggested the pair were evading law enforcement. A traffic stop ensued and the men threw the half-pound of fentanyl down a nearby embankment. On May 3, the pair were sentenced to eight years in state prison.
Robin Stuart Bradshaw, age 70 — convicted of transporting fentanyl for sale.
In yesterday’s Facebook post, Mendocino County District Attorney Dave Eyster noted that the convergence of Proposition 57 and emergency provisions adopted by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation could reduce the traffickers’ prison sentence by as much as 66.6% of their sentence. This means, for example, an offender sentenced to ten years could see their total prison time reduced to four years.
The Mendocino/Humboldt County corridor has been inundated with fentanyl. Multiple law enforcement agencies stated that the synthetic opioid is being bought within San Francisco’s Tenderloin district and brought to North Coast counties where overdoses have become part of the landscape.
According to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department, “In 2020, the county saw 11 Fentanyl related deaths. In 2021, there were 33 Fentanyl related deaths, accounting for almost 10% of all deaths recorded by the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office for the year.”
According to the California Opioid Overdose Surveillance Dashboard, in 2020 Mendocino County experienced 25.8 opioid overdose deaths for every 100,000 residents. Mendocino County ranks in the state’s top 25% for it opioid overdose death rate.
As law enforcement works to try to cut off the supply, overdoses are rising and local leaders are working to identify the forces that have led to fentanyl taking root in the Emerald Triangle.
Fentanyl has made its way into Mendocino County’s communities. Dozens of residents have been arrested in possession of the narcotic. Native American communities in Round Valley and Lake County have experienced rashes of overdoses from the drug. Narcan is now a standard piece of equipment in any first responders toolkit. 
Data presented by the California Department of Public Health’s Overdose Surveillance dashboard shows Mendocino County has experienced a rise in fentanyl deaths since the beginning of 2019 and remains on an upward trajectory.
Humboldt County has also experienced a rise in fentanyl deaths interestingly also beginning in 2019.
A map of California that displays the distribution of fentanyl-related overdose deaths in 2020 across the state shows Mendocino and Sonoma Counties have some of the highest rates of opioid deaths in the state when adjusted for population.
As fentanyl ravages the North Coast, local leaders are looking to find structural deficiencies that are enabling the drug’s distribution. The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors sent San Francisco’s District Attorney Chesa Boudin a call to action, demanding his agency seek higher penalties against those in his jurisdiction trafficking or selling the narcotic.
They argued Boudin’s charging and sentencing practices not only exacerbated the opioid epidemic in San Francisco but surrounding counties. The letter stated Humboldt County would not sit “idly by while this drug pours into our county from the Tenderloin.” They went as far as to threaten litigation: “If we cannot reach an acceptable solution, we may consider a legal remedy. We look forward to hearing from your office on this most important issue.”
Mendocino County’s Board of Supervisors has not touched on the fentanyl issue. Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall and his agency have encountered the synthetic opioid in a number of contexts such as responding to multiple overdoses just in the last few months, having a corrections officer exposed to the drug, and the usual enforcement role their agency serves.
District Attorney Eyster’s press release could very well be the first occurrence of a Mendocino County official expressing concerns about larger, systemic barriers to punishing those peddling the dangerous drug.
Rather than point toward the prosecutorial practices like the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, DA Eyster identifies voter-approved Proposition 57 as an impediment to punishment.
In 2016 voters approved Proposition 57, packaged as a vehicle for criminal justice reform allowing non-violent offenders to be released from state prison once they served their full sentence for primary criminal offenses, rather than serving extra time for sentencing enhancements often given to repeat offenders.
Opponents of the proposition expressed concern that potentially dangerous offenders could be released into the public due to the improper classification of crimes as non-violent.
![Comparison of a U.S. penny to a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl [Photograph from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/276958831_3104204633175839_4994621710524666501_n-300x225.gif)
Comparison of a U.S. penny to a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl [Photograph from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration]
Considering the drug’s potential lethality, DA Eyster seems to be making the case that the characterization of these men’s crimes as “non-violent” is inaccurate. DA Eyster’s suggestion is not without precedent. California has seen the District Attorney of Riverside, Placer, San Bernadino, and Orange Counties either charge fentanyl dealers with murder when the product results in the death of a customer or announced intentions to do so.
DA Eyster’s concerns about shorter sentences are amplified by emergency provisions adopted by the California Department of Corrections adopted in May 2021. A press release issued by the CDCR stated that these changes were not “an early release program, and these changes do not result in the automatic release of an incarcerated individual.”
Reporter Katy Grimes interviewed California Attorney General Candidate and Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert who argued these provisions would result in the early release of violent offenders and represent the CDCR’s failure to allow the people of California a voice in the decision-making.
In December 2021, Schubert and twenty-seven other district attorneys (absent from that list is Mendocino County’s own Dave Eyster) were granted a Temporary Restraining Order halting efforts of the CDCR to enact these emergency guidelines.
District Attorney Schubert said that the CDCR intended to increase the “good conduct credit” afforded to offenders from 50% to 66.6% of their total prison sentence for inmates with previous serious or violent offenses.
District Attorney Schubert said these regulations would result in two-thirds time off sentences for offenders convicted of “domestic violence, human trafficking, animal cruelty, and possession of weapons by individuals who have previous convictions for serious and violent felonies.” She added, “Most people would be surprised to learn that under California law, crimes like felony domestic violence and human trafficking are not ‘violent’ felonies.”
District Attorney Schubert argued these unilateral decisions by CDCR show the agency believes, “they can increase conduct credits by 100% without ever giving victims and the public the right to meaningful participation in this process.”
As our legislators and local leaders work towards solving the fentanyl problem, overdoses continue to rise. The American Medical Association released a report on May 12, 2022, entitled “Nation’s Drug-Related Overdose and Death Epidemic Continues to Worsen“. Our communities might be emerging from the COVID-19 epidemic, but the grip of addiction is getting tighter.
For those that might read this who personally suffer from addiction or are concerned for a loved one falling into addiction, remember that treatment can help and is available:
- Mendocino County
- Contact Behavioral Health and Recovery Services at 1(855)765-9703.
- Humboldt County
- Contact the Humboldt County Substance Use Disorder Hotline at 1-855-765-9703
- Trinity County
- Contact Alcohol and Other Drug Service at (530)623-1362
- Lake County
- Contact the Substance Use Disorder Services at 1(800)900-2075
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Here’s a thought. How about we stop going through the prosecution process since they’re just going to get a slap on the hand and sent to bed without dessert. In fact, how about we just get rid of laws against drug dealers and just don’t even bother arresting them. This country is DISGUSTING! Overwhelmed??? How overwhelming do you think it’s going to be when it’s in all the schools and in every neighborhood???
BECAUSE YOU’RE TOO OVERWHELMED TO DO YOUR JOB AND DO WHATS RIGHT! POLITICAL IDIOTS! POLITICAL BULL SHYT !!!
Cody, what if this is an example of how the psychopaths in charge destroy the fabric of society?
There are no conspiracies,
There are no coincidences.
There are definitely both conspiracies and coincidences. Sometimes they occur within the same situation making it really messy.
Vote republican across the board…
Yes, there is absolutely no fentanyl in republican controlled states. Genius plan
Cody, if we really want change and laws enforced, we must all vote republican across the board in the 2022 and 2024 elections. Otherwise, the violence and chaos will worsen under lawless democrat administrations.
Yet they still go after weed
This robin bradshaw had another article in redheaded blackbelt, or loco years ago ,Robin Bradshaw convicted of murdering his wife in Mckinleyville with blunt force trauma to the head ,he even put a driveway over the top of her.Interesting read.
This is the man whose plea deal lead to a conviction for killing his wife in 2010.
So much for the correction and rehabilitation parts of the CDCR.
https://www.times-standard.com/2010/07/13/monica-bradshaws-remains-are-recovered-and-robin-bradshaw-is-sent-to-prison/
And who let him out? Was it Fleming? Her tenure as DA amounts to mass murder!
The article says District Attorney Paul Gallegos created the plea deal leading to a sentence of 12 years. With various credits and policies of the CDCR, there was no choosing differently. And no will to do differently.
Yes it was that wonderful “man of the grower people” Paul Gallegos. What an ass that guy was! And sure he always used the excuses of “state laws tying his hands” when he settled for plea deals that protected the guilty and murderous. And so this guy Robin has been out and about doing great things Thank You yet again Paul Gallegos!!
Wherever did Gallegos end up?
Didn’t he go on to consult for legal cannabis farms at one point? Maybe still surfing out at the north jetty.
.
“Correction, and rehabilitation,” ?
If you “fix” the problem, you’re out of a job.
First time I paroled from SQ, I was told at R&R: “come on back real soon, and bring a friend”
I worked R&R at SQ for three years…
They’d rather be out of a job but you can try to fix the problem…
All CDCR can do is warehouse inmates. These career criminals cannot be rehabilitated.
2010 robin bradshaw ,times standard ,convicted murderer
Imagine even thinking this way- from the CDCR press release linked to in the article- “ensure we have processes that work for our incarcerated population, staff, and the various stakeholders”! At best, the public and their lives might fall into the one of the “various” stakeholders who are the last in line to be considered. The CDCR does not have criminals in prison; it has an “incarcerated population” as first priority then staff who they “work for.”
And from the “Mission Statement” of the CDCR- ” To facilitate the successful reintegration of the individuals in our care back to their communities equipped with the tools to be drug-free, healthy, and employable members of society by providing education, treatment, rehabilitative, and restorative justice programs, all in a safe and humane environment.”
And from the Newsom appointed CDCR Secretary’s website- “She has also successfully led the development of policies and programs that focus on rehabilitation, restorative justice, and successful reentry, which have made prisons safer for staff and incarcerated people, and has strengthened partnerships with both governmental agencies and community organizations to create a system focused on public safety, personal accountability, and positive change.”
https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/about-cdcr/vision-mission-values/
One of these days, between the public education system, the politicians and the media, there will be no “public” left who is not an alumni of the CDCR. The inmates will no longer just be in charge of the institution. They will own the State.
California’s budget for housing around 99,000 inmates amounts to around 13.5 billion tax payer dollars. That is about $1300 per day. Where will the money come from to house additional inmates? This doesn’t include the costs of County jails. Try to find an accurate budget for the Humboldt County jail and you will find everything BUT a complete budget. The closest I could find was around $25 million, but that didn’t include salaries of the Sheriff’s Department. They just commandeered fat raises for themselves starting from Honsal. Who will pay for incarcerating more prisoners. Where will the money come from? Not the Federal Gov’t especially if the Conservative Republicans take over the Congress and possibly the Presidency. Takes major taxpayer dollars. And the one percent ultra rich Republicans are too busy living the good life while we are paying inflated prices to eek out a living. Their money for nothing and living the high life for free!
Between the “war on terror” and the “war on drugs” there is no money for doing the things that would make us safer and happier and healthier and better educated as a nation.
The CDCR website may say all that b.s. about working for the inmates and providing rehabilitation but they don’t. As someone who has had to deal with CDCR for the last 10 + years, I can assure you, they do not cater to the inmates or the families what so ever. Your argument makes it sound like CDCR is licking the boots of criminals. It is absolutely not. As for rehabilitation, there are so little services for rehabilitation, it’s a joke.
I agree with you that the CDCR is failing in their mission. As much as I advocate long sentences or even capital punishment for the most heinous criminals I also advocate more rehabilitation services for those we bring back into our communities. At present they just get chucked back out on the sidewalk broke with no job or skills and it’s no surprise if they go back to their previous criminal ways. We need rehabilitation!
No doubt rehabilitation has to be an important goal. Figure out which countries are doing the best job rehabilitating prisoners and copy their best practises in our prisons.
In other words, they neither protect the public nor reform the criminal? That it is all a fiction? Shocked, I say! Shocked! “Corrections has neither consistently placed inmates on waiting lists for needed rehabilitation programs nor prioritized those with the highest need correctly,” State Auditor Elaine Howle reported. “Although the number of inmates housed in state prisons has decreased in recent years, recidivism rates for inmates in California have remained stubbornly high, averaging around 50 percent over the past decade… ” Of course then ” Underutilization of enrollment capacity is another factor identified in the report, with a three-prison review re- vealing that, on average, only 76 percent of the seats in CBT classes are occupied. Despite the criticism and low enrollment rates, the CDCR has expanded CBT, academic, and vocational programs to all 36 state prisons. The CBT programs introduced consist of four classes: Substance abuse dis- order treatment, anger management, criminal thinking and family relationships.”
https://sanquentinnews.com/state-auditor-reports-cdcr-has-been-unsuccessful-in-rehabilitation-needs/
If you are really interested in the trends in prison administration, here is the budget. “According to CDCR, the projected increase in the inmate population is primarily due to the intake of a backlog of people who were sentenced to prison but housed in county jails while prison admissions were halted in response to the COVID‑19 pandemic. The projected decrease in the parolee population is primarily due to recent policy changes that have reduced the length of time people spend on parole by allowing them to be discharged earlier than otherwise.”
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4517#Trends_in_the_Adult_Inmate_and_Parolee.A0Populations
You are 100% correct.
Biden’s Illegal Immigration Invasion floods our country with fentanyl killing 300/day, 15x those killed in Uvalde by the deranged youth from a broken family and the cowardly cops, yet Biden and Mayorkas do nothing to stop China’s escalating revenge for the Western Opium Wars and they should both be impeached. 300 dead Americans each day!
And there it is. Blaming the current administration for the many, many past years of failures.
I’m with you, Me.
Yes. Many years but when reforms were attempted, who shot them down with cries of racism. One of the things that make a problem intractable is when both Democrats and Republicans agree not to fix it. Both make use of illegal immigration to keep the public happy and lazy with cheap labor from elsewhere. Their disagreements are only in dealing with the damage it causes.
Dude, the idea that either party of wealth/ruling class have different goals is laughable.
I’m sure they all have a good laugh about how deluded consumers of mass-media are.
When they’re at their children’s weddings. Or, at the “Club.”
Or maybe they just walk next door, since they all have mansions in the same gated communities.
The most vehement “Conservative” and I agree on maybe 99% of the issues.
Fiscal responsibility
Good jobs
Personal Liberty
Family
Service
Etc., etc.
But, thanks to the Rulers, we’re going to kill others in our own community because we don’t agree on abortion, or background checks.
Let’s stop putting ourselves in boxes designed to stereotype Americans by eliminating the widely, varying nuance and complexity of any citizen you encounter.
Great comment! 👍
So true. This is what happens when 1% own 99%.
That’s a fictional statistic.
Not by much.
You’re response is qualitative and not quantitative which is the opposite of a statistic. Not that stats can’t be slanted based on inputs and parameters, but I suspect acting like the 1% (an undefined group) owned everything will only make it come true.
Easier said than done
Dems and repubs are opposing sides of the same coin. The only people that win are the ones flipping and controlling the coin. It’s incredibly naive to think one party will help an individual voter. Tribalism sure feels good though.
Just like the idiotic dumbocrats did with Trump?
Yes, and for four years only one president in those decades of failure tried to secure our borders and stem the flow of drugs, human smuggling, and other societal ills and one party maneuvered to stop every advancement made. Then that party maneuvered to ensure a racist, do-nothing grifter became their puppet so they can continue destroying America. This “current administration*” as you say, has a figurehead who has done nothing in almost 50 years of “public service” except enrich himself, his family and those who he sold his soul to in that time.
It is far past time to water the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants and traitors and take back our Republic.
Lol, just try buddy. This type of talk is funny, Proud Boys weren’t so Bad Ass were they. Although the Insurrection was Traitorous, it also showed how weak the kooks really are.
The only reason there were a bunch of people at the Capitol is because they can’t exactly stop paying taxes for illegitimate and illegal elections. I take offense at the term traitorous, when it’s clearly the actions of government funded goon squad who areally at fault.
Biden has been in office for over 40 years. So there is that.
Trump had a handle on the situation and Biden threw it all away…
Spot on. When Biden opened the flood gate on our southern border fentanyl started pouring in…
Look at the graph’s timeline. Elections have consequences.
Awfully interesting that the trajectory started shooting upward around 2019…
Same year that Gavin Gruesome took office…
Total BS. This graph shows the switch from Heroin users to Fent. From what I hear barely anyone is using heroin anymore, they have all switched to the more addictive Fent.
The people using these drugs are just as bad as the people selling them. Don’t use drugs and then the drugs will be worthless.
That’s probably what all of the drug dealers say…
I don’t agree…
With no monkey, there can be no junkie.
Simple.
Sounds like words of an addict.
I don’t agree.
With no junkies, there can be no monkeys…
Lock them all up and put them to work. But california seems to think that’s inhumane.
I got no respect for druggies or dealers. A bunch of low life’s.
Nope, not currently anyway.
Never did hard drugs.
Alcoholics are druggies. I’m an ex alcoholic, it’s true.
At one time I could probably just about out weed smoke anybody…
But I just don’t see how you figure that that without alcohol, weed, or drugs, there could be any alcoholics, stoners or druggies…
It would be impossible.
Simple.
It would also be impossible if no one bought the stuff.
More than one way to acquire drugs besides money.
You can’t even share what ain’t even there.
Take away the guns and flood us with drugs…..
That’s the collaboration between cartel and government
The state is currently mandated to find ways to reduce the prison population to “only” 133% capacity because the previous plan of locking up every single petty drug addict didn’t accomplish anything except creating a prison environment so atrocious that even the US federal govt found it to be excessive.
We do need to find a solution to this crisis of addiction in our society, but retreating to the simplistic strategies that failed in the past absolutely won’t do it
A controversial thought, to be sure, but how bout stop trying to save addicts. If their choices result in death… then so
Be it. Yes horribly unbearable for the people who love those individuals. Just like death from driving drunk or Death by from other stupid choices people
Make.
Put our public resources to support law abiding citizens along with create a society which does not require hard drug use to bear it. Use our resources to help people who are befallen
By cancer or innocent victims … not for people who willingly sign up for the problem.
Just a thought based on practicality- I believe there is a paltry percentage of drug addicts who ever do become regular Citizens again…I do realize this idea might piss off lots of people, but once the drug users are gone ( of their own choice) the fentanyl is gone, the mental illness resulting from drug use is gone, the thievery and violence relating to drug use is gone, the Might that be an -albeit controversial -Answer? Principle is personal responsibility. Curious what others think.
I agree. I’m a big opponent of Misplaced Compassion. But perhaps we can also fund rehabilitation centers? So that those who screwed up and want to get better can get some help with that…I know a few former junkies who pulled their lives out of the fire and are excellent people now. It is possible.
Would I be complicit if i saved someone with Narcan and they went on to thieve or murder someone?
Yikes, I would say no, and no judge would convict you of that…
Then morally guilty, “if not for me administering the Narcan, that person would be alive (or still have their car, gun, jewelry, etc)”?
Yes, but there is no way of knowing, if you saved their life, it could be the turning point in their life, as well, when they turn their life around and make something rewarding of it…
The chances may be slim, but there is that chance…
🤞
And not morally guilty, either in my opinion, that would be on the murderer, thief, etc…, Not you.
Morally, you would have saved a life…
I’d say morally, that’s about as good as it gets.
After narcan, you get a tattoo that says NO MA’S
I find myself wondering if the use of Narcan isn’t interfering with the process of natural selection. I think fentanyl users are candidates for Darwin Awards.
Ummmm everyone seems to be missing the real problem.. The Tenderloin…Maybe do some law enforcement there?
Ummm, Pelosi runs San Francisco so the fault lies entirely with her. Inconvenient truth, she does not care at all or it would end today with three phone calls, one to the mayor, one to the State Department of Justice, and one to the DEA. But that won’t happen will it? Why? Because it doesn’t matter to her or effect her life in anyway. So much for coming together when those in power cannot see past their relationships with the cartel narco country next door utilizing the nazi biker red phosphorous method mixed with some Fenti. Gotta keep the bodies flowing north no matter what because as she says, they are all children of god and it is her responsibility to make it continue because of LOVE.
The Tenderloin is a pretty open. Police station is 3 blocks from the 24hr drug market. I wouldn’t blame the D.A.
Fentanyl is not being brought from the tenderloin it’s being brought from Mexico and bought in the TL . The tenderloin is only a hub for drug trafficking not the main source
Fentanyl is sent from China through Mexico to the US. Why doesn’t our government require China take action to curtail the flow of fentanyl?
Cuz China can just deny it. China is our #1 adversary in the world and is smart enough to wage war against USA by vast industrial and military espionage, by distributing viruses and drugs, by corrupting academic, industrial, and political leaders by bribery (an amazingly cost effective investment in the corrupt USA).
Seems extremely unlikely that we will stop fentanyl being shipped into USA across our open Mexican border. A tiny amount of fentanyl stored in a prison wallet can be turned into a lot of $.
👍
I believe the precursor ingredients are being imported into Mexico from China and other places and manufactured in Mexico. It use to be sent from China but that has changed in the past few years.
Warns of a reduction in prison terms? Or diabolically threatens?? “reduce the traffickers’ prison sentence by as “much as 66.6% ‘ OH THE IRONY 😈
Btw 66.66% reduction of ten years is 3 years 3 months, not 4 years. And knowing our justice system they will barely do 18 months.
Oh, and he killed his wife? No big surprise. Gender targeted violence is another disregarded crime.
Is fentanyl being MANUFACTURED in San Francisco? I doubt it. Go after the real source and quit yer scapegoating.
👍
What if a person wants to die? This drug is so cheap, if you’re an elder, sick and broke from multiple misfortunes of aging, unless it’s a painful out, seems a blessing.
Yes, true that, affordable and readily available way out and certainly wouldn’t hurt.
This isn’t just the Tenderloin its all over the Bay Area and San Francisco went to north beach and everyone dealing kept saying i got yellow yellow here . So i asked what was yellow i was told it was street term for fetty ie fentanyl it’s literally everywhere
Will a single yellow kill you or is it like 3-4 beers?
I don’t know but im sure someone on Levinworth and Turk in SF could tell you
Biden works for China, and as long as Biden and the Progressives are in office, there will be no change.
Biden could easily tell China every government employee and University student will be sent back to China until the fentanyl stops reaching the US.
Open borders assists China getting its fentanyl to market, in the USA
Biden knows his Green New Deal cannot exist without China’s rare earth minerals for solar and wind, leaving us at the mercy of China.
Milley was caught telling his counterpart in China he would make sure China would be warned before the USA did anything.
How many signposts do you need?
It’s documented that China Communist Party paid Hunter millions, Hunter paid Joe’s bills, so I think everyone can figure it out except those wearing binders. Congressional oversight committees will get the info into the public arena come next January.
10% for the Big Guy!
Making it illegal is not working. Sell the crap at Costco, Walmart and everywhere else. Keep the narcan for accidental exposures and the problem will fix its self.
I’ve always been a libertarian so generally agree, decriminalize use, possession, and sale of all drugs and let the chips fall where individuals choose. Choices have consequences.
Provide safe clean drugs and safe places to use. Provide counseling & make rehab easily obtained. Provide jobs and housing. Change the existing paradigm of hopelessness.
I’d support that strategy approach. Surprised California hasn’t given it a try
Provide pure, uncut drugs and all the needles they want in an environment to secure the health and safety of non-users, with no Narcan anywhere to be seen. Problem will solve itself ensuring their existing paradigm of staying high ‘til they die…
I’m also a libertarian, freedom to choose but choices have consequences
Indeed.
Give them a choice…
Pure, uncut heroin or Narcan. But you can’t have both!