An ex-L.A. County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced Monday to 12 months in federal prison for submitting a false search warrant application to a state court judge, falsely claiming he needed tracking information for a robbery suspect’s cell phone when it was actually for a private client’s estranged husband during contentious divorce proceedings.
David Anthony Rodriguez, 45, of La Verne, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to one federal count of conspiracy against rights. He left the sheriff’s department in October.
While serving as an LASD deputy, Rodriguez received cash payments for his work as a private security guard for a wealthy Los Angeles-based client who had hired a private security company owned by a then-LASD colleague, Eric Chase Saavedra, 43, of Chino. In August 2021, Rodriguez began working for Saavedra, whose company provided private security services for clients and often employed active LASD deputies and law enforcement officers, prosecutors said.
One of those clients was Adam Iza, 25, who resided in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, was a self-styled cryptocurrency businessman, and who has been in federal custody since September 2024. Iza pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy against rights, wire fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery in California and Connecticut and awaits sentencing.
Federal prosecutors said that in July 2022, Rodriguez, working for a private client, obtained a search warrant by lying in an affidavit to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. In the affidavit, Rodriguez falsely stated that a detective had contacted him and asked for assistance from LASD’s Gang Surveillance Team in connection with a robbery that occurred three days earlier in Cudahy.
The affidavit further falsely stated that Rodriguez was able to positively identify a suspect involved in the robbery case, and that the suspect used two cell phones. Rodriguez falsely indicated in the affidavit that the person’s cell phone number was associated with the robbery suspect, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“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 awareness of its significance.”
Saavedra pleaded guilty in February 2025 to one count of conspiracy against rights and one count of making and subscribing to a false tax return. He is expected to be sentenced in the coming months in Los Angeles federal court.