A Lancaster man working as a deputy at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic is now facing at least five years in federal prison for his role in a heroin-smuggling ring that operated in support of the Mexican Mafia, according to federal officials.
Michael Meiser, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute, according to a news release Thursday from the Department of Justice.
In April 2024, Meiser conspired with inmates to smuggle drugs into the jail — part of the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center complex — in exchange for cash and payments via the Cash App digital wallet that inmates sent to one of Meiser’s relatives, according to the plea agreement.
His admission offered a detailed look at how Meiser smuggled the drugs into the jail, which federal officials put in their statement Thursday from the court record.
As part of the deal Meiser made with inmates, on April 24, 2024, one of Meiser’s relatives received $1,500 via Cash App from an individual connected to an inmate and later confirmed payment to Meiser.
“Six days later, Meiser drove his BMW to a Chevron gasoline station in Valencia, parked it next to a Chevrolet SUV, exited his car and opened its trunk,” according to the DOJ statement. “Inside the Chevrolet were two women, one of whom was associated with a jail inmate. Meiser walked to the Chevrolet’s driver side where one of the two women handed him a plastic grocery bag containing two Pringles cans loaded with approximately 511 grams (1.1 pounds) of heroin. The bag also contained two white envelopes that contained a total of $15,000 in cash, which represented Meiser’s payment from the inmates for smuggling heroin into the jail.
“Later that day, Meiser took the grocery bag and put it into his green backpack, which also contained his loaded handgun, before driving to a fellow LASD deputy’s apartment complex. Once there, Meiser, with his green backpack in tow, got into that deputy’s truck and headed to the jail in Castaic. The other deputy drove his truck into the jail with Meiser in the passenger seat and parked the vehicle in the jail’s parking lot, which was past the jail’s initial security checkpoint.
“Meiser then exited the deputy’s truck and took the green backpack — containing the heroin and the cash — and placed it inside the trunk of an LASD radio car.
“Eventually, Meiser placed the two heroin-containing Pringles canisters, which were hidden in a grocery bag, under computer towers inside the radio car’s trunk. By this time, he had removed the $15,000 in cash from the grocery bag and placed it in his green backpack. Meiser then closed the trunk, carried the green backpack to the other deputy’s truck, placed it inside that vehicle, and went to the jail’s gym with the other deputy. Later that day, Meiser met with an inmate participating in the smuggling scheme and spoke to him for several minutes.
“At the end of that day, Meiser got in the passenger seat of the other deputy’s truck. LASD investigators stopped them as the other deputy began driving the truck outside the jail,” the statement read.
Deputies from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department arrested Meiser and searched the other deputy’s truck, where they found the green backpack containing $15,000 in cash, Meiser’s loaded handgun and his badge and LASD identification. The other deputy was not identified in the Department of Justice statement.
“Investigators also searched the radio car’s trunk and found the two heroin-containing Pringles canisters,” according to the news release.
