A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who took part in what prosecutors called a Mexican Mafia operation to smuggle heroin into a Castaic jail in exchange for cash bribes pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge.
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Michael Meiser, 40, of Lancaster, pleaded guilty in downtown Los Angeles to a single count of possession with intent to distribute heroin, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He faces anywhere from five to 40 years in federal prison when he is sentenced Dec. 11.
The case stemmed from a sheriff's department and FBI investigation that began in early 2022 into reports of drugs being smuggled into the county jail system.
Prosecutors said Meiser smuggled heroin into the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic. Sheriff's department detectives arrested Meiser as he and his partner left the jail's parking lot on April 30, 2024.
According to court papers, detectives searched a bag Meiser allegedly left inside a police cruiser and found about a pound of heroin hidden inside two tubes of Pringles chips.
Meiser was accused of trying to smuggle the drugs to inmate "shot- callers" appointed by the Mexican Mafia to control Latino inmates in county lockups.
The deputy was assigned to Operation Safe Jails, a unit dedicated to investigating suspected gang leaders, according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court.
Meiser was found carrying a bag containing $15,000 and investigators found another $10,500 in a drawer at his Lancaster home, prosecutors said.
The indictment describes various security videos allegedly showing Meiser speaking to other defendants in the case, at one point handing a bag to one of the inmates, and in another instance receiving a plastic grocery bag from a woman at a Lancaster gas station, containing nearly a pound of black tar heroin, which he then allegedly carried into the North County Correctional Facility.
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