A California prison guard allegedly helped a drug trafficker smuggle 20 kilograms from Mexico to a Rowland Heights stash house, Los Angeles County prosecutors said Friday.
The correctional officer, Jesus Reyes, was charged with conspiring to sell drugs, possessing drugs for sale and transporting drugs across county lines. Reyes, 45, has yet to enter a plea and it was unclear Friday if he was represented by a lawyer.
Reyes started his career with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as a cadet in 2007 and was assigned to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County later that year, said Kyle Buis, a spokesman for the state prison system.
Reyes resigned on Thursday, Buis said.
“CDCR resolutely condemns any staff member — especially a peace officer who is trusted to enforce the law — who violates their oath and shatters the trust of the public and their colleagues,” Buis said in a written statement.
According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Reyes crossed the border into the United States on Aug. 1, 2023, with a load of cocaine hidden inside his car. He drove to Rowland Heights, where he met Jose Luis Aldahir Rocha Luque at a house on Bellorita Street that Luque allegedly rented to store drugs and money, the complaint said.
Luque, 27, faces the same charges as Reyes. It wasn’t clear if he was represented by an attorney.
When authorities from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration searched the home that day, they found 20 kilograms of cocaine and $179,680 in cash, according to a DEA forfeiture notice and a statement from Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman.
“It is reprehensible that a state corrections officer can be seduced by greed and manipulated by others to commit such crimes that endanger the public,” Hochman said.
Greg Risling, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, declined to say why prosecutors didn’t bring charges against Reyes and Luque for nearly three years.
Reyes’ prosecution comes two months after a California prison lieutenant was arrested on suspicion of smuggling cellphones into Salinas Valley State Prison in exchange for $100,000. Matthew Madsen, 39, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit honest services fraud and remains free on bond.
Salinas Valley has become one of the most violent lockups in the state. Five inmates were killed at the Monterey County prison in 2025, and two more have been killed this year.