Federal prosecutors charged Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies to prisons assigned to investigate gang crimes by smuggling heroin.
Michael Miser, 39, pleaded not guilty in federal court to accusing him of human trafficking drugs while armed with Smith & Wesson’s service weapons. The attorney representing the agent released on bail did not return a request for comment.
Miser was already facing charges in Los Angeles County Superior Court that he conspired with gang members to distribute heroin inside Castatic’s North County Correctional Facility.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Department’s Internal Criminal Investigation Bureau arrested Meiser on April 30, 2024 when he and his partner left the prison parking lot.
That day, detectives searched the bag that Miser allegedly left inside a police cruiser and found that more than a pound of heroin was hidden in two tubes of Pringles Chips, according to law enforcement records reviewed by the Times.
Miser was accused of attempting to smuggle drugs into prisoner “shotcarers” whom the Mexican mafia had appointed to control Latino prisoners in the county lockup.
Jose Rodriguez, a well-received member of the Pacoima Project Boys Gang, known as “Benji,” and Jackie “Boy” Triplet of the Victoria Park Gang, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy with Miser to bring drugs to the North County Correctional Facility.
Miser’s partner told the interior detective that Rodriguez and Triplett oversaw drug sales, broke Mexican mafia rules and raised horrific “fines” from prisoners who disciplined them through assault.
Meiser was the details of Operations Safe Jails, a unit that investigates suspected leaders of gangs.
According to the interior report, Miser has a bag containing $15,000. At his Lancaster home, they found another $10,500 in his sock drawer, the report says.
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