LA County sheriff's deputy, 17 others indicted for jail smuggling operation
A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy was among the 18 people who were indicted for their alleged part in a drug smuggling operation at county jails on Tuesday.
The indictment, which stems from a joint investigation involving LASD and FBI personnel that began in 2022 regarding reports of drugs that were being smuggled into the Los Angeles County jail system and also alleges the attack on an inmate, was announced by District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
"Corruption and criminal activity will not be tolerated in our justice system — especially within our jails," Hochman said in a statement. "Ensuring that our correctional facilities remain secure and free of illicit drugs is crucial to public safety. Those entrusted with upholding the law must be held to the highest standards, and we will aggressively prosecute those who betray that trust."
Among the 18 defendants listed in the indictment are 39-year-old Lancaster man Michael Meiser, an LASD deputy.
According to the indictment, which is 51 pages long, the criminal smuggling operation was allegedly orchestrated and controlled by the Mexican Mafia prison gang. The long list of charges in the indictment include conspiracy to sell a controlled substance, participation in a criminal street gang-sale of a controlled substance, conspiracy to commit extortion, extortion, participation in a criminal street gang, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, furnishing a controlled substance to a person in custody, possession for sale of a controlled substance, possession of a firearm by a felon and unlawful possession of ammunition.
Meiser specifically was charged with a non-inmate furnishing a controlled substance to a person in custody, attempted non-inmate furnishing a controlled substance to a person in custody, conspiracy to commit non-inmate furnishing a controlled substance to a person in custody and participation in a criminal street gang.
The indictment details a number of security videos that allegedly who Meiser speaking to some of the other defendants in the case. He can be seen handing a bag to one of them and in another instance he is seen receiving a plastic bag from a woman at a Lancaster gas station, which contained about a point of black tar heroin. He is then accused of bringing the bag into the North County Correctional Facility.
Each of the 18 defendants are due in court on March 27 in downtown Los Angeles.
