United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SAN FRANCISCO – Two drug dealers extradited from Honduras to San Francisco were sentenced to multiple years in federal prison for drug trafficking offenses in the Bay Area.  Jorge Viera-Chirinos, 35, was sentenced to 40 months in prison on March 5, 2025.  Elmer Matute, 32, was sentenced to 36 months in prison on March 12, 2025.  Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer handed down both sentences.

Jorge Viera-Chirinos was originally charged by criminal complaint on July 29, 2019, and arrested the same day.  A federal grand jury indicted Viera-Chirinos and 13 co-defendants in August 2019 on charges of trafficking large quantities of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine base, and cocaine in San Francisco.  In September 2020, while released on bond, Viera-Chirinos fled to Honduras in violation of the terms of his bond.  He was extradited to the United States in February 2024.  On Oct. 16, 2024, Viera-Chirinos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine base, and cocaine beginning around June 2018 to about Aug. 7, 2019.  According to the plea agreement, Viera-Chirinos helped arrange housing for street-level drug dealers who purchased drugs from him and other co-conspirators and then resold those drugs in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco.  Viera-Chirinos also coordinated sourcing drugs that other co-conspirators then provided to street-level dealers.

A federal grand jury indicted Elmer Bonilla Matute in December 2019 on charges of possession with intent to distribute heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and cocaine base, and a warrant issued for his arrest.  Matute was later arrested in and extradited from Honduras to the United States in February 2024.  On Nov. 26, 2024, Matute pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine base, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  According to the plea agreement, pursuant to a search warrant executed at Matute’s residence in Richmond on June 5, 2018, law enforcement seized approximately 663 grams of heroin, 168 grams of methamphetamine, 386 grams of cocaine base, and 175 grams of cocaine.  Matute admitted that he was in possession of the substances at the time of the search, knew that they contained heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine base, cocaine, or some other federally controlled substance, and intended to distribute them to other people.

Acting U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Robbins and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris made the announcements.  

These investigations are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.  Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs).  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. 

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with Honduran authorities to secure the extraditions of Viera-Chirinos and Matute to the United States.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sailaja M. Paidipaty and Dan M. Karmel prosecuted the cases with the assistance of Madeline Wachs.  The prosecutions are the result of investigations by DEA.