A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy from Lancaster was sentenced during the week of Nov. 6 to five years and seven months in federal prison for participating in a heroin-smuggling operation at a Castaic jail. Prosecutors described the scheme as a Mexican Mafia operation involving drugs concealed in Pringles chip tubes and cash bribes.
Michael Meiser, 41, pleaded guilty in downtown Los Angeles in July 2025 to one count of possessing heroin with intent to distribute it. His sentence also includes four years of supervised release after he completes his prison term, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The prosecution grew out of an investigation that the Sheriff’s Department and FBI began in early 2022 after receiving reports that drugs were being brought into the county jail system. Federal prosecutors said Meiser smuggled heroin into the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic.
Sheriff’s Department detectives arrested Meiser on April 30, 2024, as he and his partner were leaving the jail parking lot. Court papers say detectives searched a bag he had left inside a police cruiser and discovered approximately a pound of heroin concealed in two tubes of Pringles chips.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Meiser was attempting to deliver the heroin to inmate “shot-callers” selected by the Mexican Mafia to exercise control over Latino inmates in county lockups. Documents filed in federal court in Los Angeles show that Meiser was assigned to Operation Safe Jails, a unit whose work included investigating suspected gang leaders.
Prosecutors said Meiser was carrying a bag with $15,000 when he was found. Investigators also recovered $10,500 from a drawer at his Lancaster home. Authorities described his participation in the drug-smuggling operation as being in exchange for cash bribes.
The indictment cited security video recordings that authorities said showed Meiser interacting with other defendants in the case. One recording was described as showing him passing a bag to an inmate. Another involved an exchange with a woman at a gas station in Lancaster.
In the gas station encounter, authorities said, Meiser received a plastic grocery bag containing nearly a pound of black tar heroin. According to the indictment’s account, he subsequently took that bag into the North County Correctional Facility.
