Investigators recovered 1.1 pounds of heroin, valued at approximately $226,000, concealed inside two Pringles cans, in the case involving former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy Michael Meiser. (Photo: AP)
A former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for attempting to smuggle approximately 1.1 pounds of heroin, worth an estimated $226,000, into a California jail concealed inside two Pringles potato chip cans. Michael Meiser, 40, was sentenced to 67 months in federal prison by US District Judge Fernando M, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Olguin on November 5. Meiser had pleaded guilty in July 2025 to one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, California. One of Meiser’s relatives received $1,500 through Cash App on April 24, 2024, from an individual connected to an inmate, according to the DOJ’s account of the case. The heroin was reportedly worth approximately $226,000 inside the correctional facility, where inmates sold the narcotic in tiny quantities known as ‘papers’, according to Sheriff’s officials.
Federal prosecutors said Meiser was working as a Sheriff’s deputy at the facility, where he was assigned to an intelligence and investigative unit monitoring gang activity. He had agreed with inmates to smuggle narcotics into the jail in exchange for cash and payments through the Cash App digital wallet, according to the DOJ. The other deputy drove the vehicle through the jail’s initial security checkpoint and parked inside the complex, according to the DOJ. Assistant US Attorney Kathy Yu prosecuted the case, according to the DOJ. According to an investigative report by the Sheriff’s Department’s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau, which worked alongside FBI agents, the unit appeared to acknowledge that gang leaders held considerable influence over inmates, sometimes more than the jail authorities themselves.
The relative subsequently informed Meiser about the payment. Meiser then got out, took his backpack and transferred the heroin-filled Pringles cans into the trunk of a Sheriff’s radio car, hiding them beneath computer towers. The FBI investigated the case with assistance from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau.
