A former Los Angeles County medical examiner investigator pleaded no contest Friday to stealing items from deceased individuals during death investigations.
Adrian Muñoz, 36, entered the plea to one felony count of grand theft and one misdemeanor count of petty theft and is scheduled to be sentenced June 5 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Muñoz is expected to receive two years of formal probation, serve 180 days in county jail, resign from Peace Officer Standards and Training certification and pay restitution to victims’ families, prosecutors said.
“There is something especially appalling about stealing from the dead. During a time when dignity and respect should be absolute, Mr. Muñoz chose greed,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “Today’s plea is a step toward justice, but it cannot undo the additional trauma inflicted on families who were already dealing with loss.”
Prosecutors said the case stems in part from a Jan. 6, 2023, death investigation in South Los Angeles, where Muñoz responded to a report of a warehouse worker who died of a heart attack while on the job.
Surveillance footage showed Muñoz removing a gold crucifix necklace from the man’s neck and placing it in his medical bag without documenting or returning the item, according to Hochman.
During a subsequent search of Muñoz’s desk, investigators recovered rare antique coins along with a receipt in the name of another man whose death Muñoz had investigated in November 2022, prosecutors said.
The case was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.