East Bay fentanyl dealer sentenced to 5 years in federal prison

OAKLAND — A 31-year-old man was sentenced to five years in federal prison for trafficking fentanyl throughout the Bay Area, in a case where authorities say he was arrested inside a home that contained 54 pounds of the deadly drug.

Darwin Licona, of Oakland, pleaded guilty to a federal fentanyl trafficking charge, stemming from a traffic stop in 2023, in Oakland, where more than two pounds were recovered, according to court records. Licona was arrested in January 2024, in a San Francisco home where authorities allegedly 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, in a “common area” of the home, according to the criminal complaint.

Licona’s attorney argued for a 29-month sentence, saying Licona accepted responsibility and that it would be an “understatement” to say his life has been difficult to this point. Most of it was spent in Honduras, until he came to Oakland in 2020, the court filing says.

“Mr. Licona does not even know his father’s name as he was killed when Mr. Licona was only one year old,” the memo says. “Mr. Licona’s basic needs were not always met during his childhood. His grandma was working while also caring for him. He would often help his grandma with working in the fields in Honduras, growing beans and corn.”

In Oakland, he met a woman and they got married and had a daughter. Now Licona will almost certainly be deported when he gets out of prison, the memo says.