United States v. Alex Oria, 1:24-cr-20108

Alex Oria was indicted in the Southern District of Florida for conspiracy to introduce misbranded drugs and conspiracy to traffic in pre-retail medical products with false documentation.
The government sought pretrial detention under 18 U.S.C. § 3142(f)(2), citing serious risks of flight and threats to witnesses.
The prosecution presented evidence Oria had lived in Costa Rica for five years, brokered diverted HIV medications in the United States, and made threatening statements to a confidential informant during a phone call in January 2024.
Oria countered he applied only for Costa Rican residency (not citizenship), remained at his known address while aware of the investigation, and challenged extradition solely on counsel’s advice.
Oria has a prior conviction for similar conduct but no prior violations of bond or supervision and testified in federal cases as a government witness.
The court conducted a hearing and denied the government’s motion for detention, instead ordering release on a $100,000 bond with strict conditions.

Issue	Government Argument	Oria Argument	Held
Risk of Flight	Substantial ties to Costa Rica, sought citizenship, risk due to seriousness of offense and challenged extradition	No attempt to flee after learning of investigation; residency not citizenship; challenged extradition on counsel’s advice; proven record of appearing for court	No serious risk of flight, release possible with conditions
Threat or Danger to Community/Witnesses	Threatened confidential informant in recorded call	Statements made while intoxicated, no further incidents over 6 months	No clear and convincing threat shown
Seriousness of Offense	Offense and potential sentence create high risk	Offense not designated as sufficiently serious; prior compliance with court	Offense not presumptively serious
Stay Pending Appeal	Sought immediate stay pending appeal of release	No argument presented for a stay; willing to remain in custody until next appearance	No stay granted

Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418 (2009) (sets standard for granting stays pending appeal)
United States v. Ailon-Ailon, 875 F.3d 1334 (10th Cir. 2017) (defines risk of flight as a volitional choice to evade prosecution)