Ex-LASD deputy sentenced for false search warrant software – NBC Los Angeles

An ex-L.A. County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced on Monday to 12 months in federal jail for submitting a false search warrant software to a state courtroom choose, falsely claiming he wanted monitoring info for a theft suspect’s cellphone when it was truly for a personal shopper’s estranged husband throughout contentious divorce proceedings.

David Anthony Rodriguez, 45, of La Verne, pleaded responsible in July 2025 to 1 federal rely of conspiracy towards rights. He left the sheriff’s division in October.

Whereas serving as an LASD deputy, Rodriguez acquired money funds for his work as a personal safety guard for a rich Los Angeles-based shopper who had employed a personal safety firm owned by a then-LASD colleague, Eric Chase Saavedra, 43, of Chino. In August 2021, Rodriguez started working for Saavedra, whose firm offered non-public safety companies for purchasers and infrequently employed lively LASD deputies and regulation enforcement officers, prosecutors stated.

A type of purchasers was Adam Iza, 25, who resided in Beverly Hills and Newport Seashore, was a self-styled cryptocurrency businessman, and who has been in federal custody since September 2024. Iza pleaded responsible to prices of conspiracy towards rights, wire fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to intrude with commerce by theft in California and Connecticut and awaits sentencing.

Federal prosecutors stated that in July 2022, Rodriguez, working for a personal shopper, obtained a search warrant by mendacity in an affidavit to a Los Angeles Superior Courtroom choose. Within the affidavit, Rodriguez falsely acknowledged {that a} detective had contacted him and requested for help from LASD’s Gang Surveillance Workforce in reference to a theft that occurred three days earlier in Cudahy.

The affidavit additional falsely acknowledged that Rodriguez was in a position to positively establish a suspect concerned within the theft case, and that the suspect used two cell telephones. Rodriguez falsely indicated within the affidavit that the individual’s cellphone quantity was related to the theft suspect, in accordance with the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace.

“This was not impulsive conduct or a momentary lapse in judgment,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “It was a calculated abuse of authority carried out with full consciousness of its significance.”

Saavedra pleaded responsible in February 2025 to 1 rely of conspiracy towards rights and one rely of constructing and subscribing to a false tax return. He’s anticipated to be sentenced within the coming months in Los Angeles federal courtroom.