A former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for attempting to smuggle over a pound of heroin into a jail, using Pringles cans as a concealment method. Michael Meiser, 40, received a 67-month sentence after pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin.
Meiser admitted to participating in a scheme to bring narcotics into the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, where he was employed as a deputy. The plan involved hiding approximately 1.1 pounds of heroin inside two cans of Pringles. In exchange for this illicit delivery, he was to be paid $15,000.
According to court documents, a relative of Meiser received a $1,500 Cash App payment on April 24, 2024, from an individual connected to an inmate, prior to the smuggling attempt. Six days later, Meiser met two women at a Chevron gas station in Valencia. One of the women, associated with a jail inmate, handed Meiser a plastic grocery bag containing the Pringles cans filled with heroin and two envelopes containing the $15,000 in cash.
Meiser then placed the bag, along with his loaded handgun, into a green backpack. He drove to a fellow deputy's apartment complex and was given a ride in the deputy's truck, which passed the jail's initial security checkpoint and entered the parking lot. Once inside, Meiser concealed the Pringles cans beneath computer towers in the trunk of an LASD patrol car. He then transferred the $15,000 cash back into his backpack.
He proceeded to the jail's gym with the other deputy and later met with an inmate involved in the smuggling operation. However, the scheme was discovered when LASD investigators stopped Meiser and the other deputy as they attempted to leave the jail premises. A search of Meiser's backpack revealed the $15,000 in cash, his loaded handgun, badge, and department identification. A subsequent search of the patrol car's trunk uncovered the two Pringles cans filled with heroin.
The investigation involved the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the LASD's Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau. Assistant United States Attorney Kathy Yu prosecuted the case.