Just when you think you've exhausted every possible nefarious angle on the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, a headline like this brings all those shady memories back again. Remember when Villanueva denied that the ole gang was a gang despite ample evidence to the contrary? Or when a sheriff shot another sheriff's gang tattoo off because he hadn't gotten permission to alter it? Good times, here's another one for the books.
Sources familiar with the operation not authorized to speak publicly said Meiser was caught in a sting operation transporting narcotics and cash into the Pitchess Detention Center last week. The items were kept in a box inside of a department vehicle.
And while ex-sheriff Michael Meiser's various infractions and felony charge are all sorts of illegal, the criminality in the sheriff's depatment doesn't end there.
The arrest is part of a larger investigation into Operation Safe Jails (OSJ), a gang intelligence unit inside of the county jail system, according to three sources within LASD. Multiple department insiders speculate that the investigation could reach upper levels of department management, and that the OSJ unit may close.
On Tuesday, Cece Woods of Malibu Global Media reported that deputies from investigative units and special assignments had been arrested for smuggling drugs to incarcerated people.
[…]Operation Safe Jails has been plagued with misconduct for years. In 2012, detectives working in the unit reported their colleagues for passing information to white supremacists. During the same period, a custody assistant was caught smuggling drugs in a sting. Deputies in OSJ also participated in a scheme carried out under the orders of then Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and Sheriff Lee Baca to hide an informant from the FBI, which eventually led to their own and several others federal convictions.
The Pitchess Detention Center was recently reported to be the home of a Ku Klux Klan themed deputy gang.
Cerise Castle, LA Public Press
Despite sustained public interest and condemnation, the salad days of scandalous LASD_related headlines and sketchy activity are far from over. We'll see what comes from the investigation into OSJ.
Previously: L.A. County undersheriff admits to having police gang tattoo
• L.A. Sheriff's deputy charged after allegedly trying to cover up colleague's DUI crash
• L.A. Sheriff's bizarre Compton surveillance