A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy has pleaded guilty to possessing over a pound of heroin, which he attempted to smuggle into a county jail in Santa Clarita Valley. Michael Meiser, 40, from Lancaster, admitted to one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin.
In April 2024, while working at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, Meiser agreed with inmates to smuggle narcotics into the jail for cash and payments via Cash App. On April 24, 2024, a relative of Meiser received $1,500 through Cash App from an individual linked to an inmate.
Six days later, Meiser met two women at a Chevron station in Valencia. One woman handed him a plastic bag containing two Pringles cans filled with approximately 511 grams (1.1 pounds) of heroin and $15,000 in cash as payment for smuggling the drugs into the jail.
Meiser then placed the bag in his backpack along with his loaded handgun and drove to another deputy’s apartment complex. Together they went to the jail where Meiser hid the drug-filled cans under computer towers inside a radio car’s trunk. He removed the cash and put it back into his backpack before going to the gym with his colleague.
Later that day, LASD investigators stopped them as they were leaving the jail. They arrested Meiser after finding $15,000 in cash, his loaded handgun, badge, and identification in the truck. The heroin was discovered hidden in Pringles cans inside the radio car’s trunk.
United States District Judge Fernando M. Olguin has scheduled sentencing for December 11. Meiser faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to 40 years in federal prison.
The FBI investigated this case with assistance from LASD’s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau. Assistant United States Attorney Thomas F. Rybarczyk is prosecuting this case.
