SAN FRANCISCO—On Thursday, January 21, Jontae Carlos Sandifer, 40, from Patterson, California was sentenced to 138 months in prison. Sandifer has been in custody since 2019 after an incident where he shot another man.
At approximately 6:45 p.m. on August 12, 2019, Sandifer admitted that he was arguing with a man in the Tenderloin neighborhood and pulled out a semiautomatic gun from the trunk of his car. He fired a shot toward the man when the man was crossing Leavenworth Street and Golden Gate Avenue, as pedestrians walked by.
The bullet missed and hit a nearby building where children were practicing for an upcoming play. The bullet narrowly missed hitting the ground floor window. Sandifer left the scene, but authorities shortly detained him.
He was previously convicted of multiple felony offenses, which makes it illegal for him to possess firearms or ammunition. He also possessed 14 additional rounds of ammunition. He admitted to possessing 25 plastic twists of heroin with the intent to distribute.
On October 10, 2019 a federal grand jury indicted Sandifer and charged him with possession to distribute heroin, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. He pleaded guilty to all counts on March 10, 2020 and entered into a plea agreement where he confessed to the drug possession and the shooting that happened on August 12, 2019.
The sentencing was handed down by the United States District Judge Vince Chhabria who in addition to sentencing Sandifer to 11 years in prison also ordered Sandifer to serve a three-year-period of supervised release. Sandifer will be serving his sentence immediately. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms an Explosives and the San Francisco Police Department.
The investigation and conviction are a part of a larger plot to crackdown on the crimes in the Tenderloin community. In a press release U.S. Attorney David Anderson said, “The Tenderloin belongs to the families, businesses, workers, and others who are fostering a community in this wonderful neighborhood. For too long drug dealers and users have descended on the Tenderloin as a convenient place to commit their crimes. The Tenderloin desperately needs vigorous prosecutions to carry forward the work of professional law enforcement. We will continue to do all we can in federal court.”
