A former Pitchess Detention Center deputy who was relieved of duty after an investigation led to a 26-count indictment from the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office is now facing charges from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, federal officials said Monday.
Michael Meiser, 40, of Lancaster, pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts as part of a June 2024 grand jury indictment unsealed April 3. The Department of Justice also is filing an asset-forfeiture allegation seeking to strip Meiser of any property he might have used in the crime or gained from the crime.
“He pleaded not guilty and a June 3 trial date was scheduled,” said Ciaran McEvoy, public information officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “A federal magistrate judge ordered him released on $20,000 bond.”
A widely published report in February from the District Attorney’s Office put Meiser at the head of a “sophisticated drug-smuggling operation” that was run out of the Pitchess Detention Center, which is part of a massive L.A. County jail compound in Castaic.
Meiser’s original arrest on state charges stemmed from a violent inmate-on-inmate assault back in 2022. The incident resulted in an investigation that included the LASD Major Crimes Bureau and the FBI’s San Gabriel Valley Safe Streets Task Force.
Meiser was one of 18 individuals listed on the multicount indictment that alleged a conspiracy to sell heroin, extort, assault and other felonies in furtherance of Mexican Mafia activities, per the DA’s complaint.
The 50-page county indictment filed in February alleges months of coded messaging were intercepted by investigators that detailed drug trade between the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic and Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles. It centers around a man identified as a leader of the L.A. County jails’ drug trade.
Deputies’ notes on the indictment provided detailed allegations about how the transactions were handled.
Meiser’s federal charges filed last week include: carrying a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking; and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Under federal law, each crime carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison that must be served consecutively.
Meiser originally was arrested in May on suspicion of bringing narcotics or a controlled substance into jail, but the department declined to comment beyond confirming the arrest, stating it was part of an ongoing investigation.
“The department’s Internal Criminal Investigation Bureau initiated an investigation into the allegations involving an employee. We arrested the employee on April 30 for felony charges,” according to an email at the time from Nicole Nishida, communications manager for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
