Crooked LA deputy’s $15K jailhouse smuggling scheme involved Pringles cans — but it wasn’t just chips inside

Former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy Michael Meiser has been sentenced to 67 months in federal prison for trying to smuggle heroin into the jail where he worked. The case matters because Meiser used his position and access to the facility to carry out a drug delivery in exchange for money.

Prosecutors said Meiser hid about 1.1 pounds of heroin in two Pringles cans and received a bag containing $15,000 in cash. After entering the jail grounds in a colleague’s truck, he stashed the cans in a patrol car’s trunk. Investigators stopped the pair as they tried to leave and found the cash, a loaded handgun and Meiser’s badge in his backpack, then discovered the heroin in the car. He pleaded guilty in July 2025 to possessing heroin with intent to distribute.