A former Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department deputy was sentenced Monday to a year in prison for submitting a false search warrant application to obtain information on a private client\u2019s estranged husband during her contentious divorce proceedings.<\/p>\n
David Anthony Rodriguez, 45, of La Verne, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to a count of conspiracy against rights. He left the Sheriff\u2019s Department in October.<\/p>\n
In a search warrant application to a state court judge, Rodriguez lied that he needed GPS tracking information on a robbery suspect\u2019s cellphone when it was really to monitor a private client\u2019s estranged husband during contentious divorce proceedings, according to the U.S. attorney\u2019s office in L.A.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez is among a handful of current and former deputies who have been charged related to their work for private clients \u2014 primarily for Adam Iza, a cryptocurrency businessman known as \u201cThe Godfather.\u201d<\/a> Iza, who has been in federal custody since September 2024, has pleaded guilty to a slew of charges in California<\/a> and Connecticut<\/a> and awaits sentencing.<\/p>\n In a statement, the department said the \u201ccriminal actions outlined in this case are unacceptable and inconsistent\u201d with its \u201chigh standards and expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe overwhelming majority of our employees serve our communities with integrity, professionalism, and distinction every day, and they deserve to work alongside individuals who uphold those same standards,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n While working as a deputy, Rodriguez began working for a private security company owned by a colleague, Eric Chase Saavedra, around 2021, according to his plea agreement. Through the company, Rodriguez began working at least twice a month as a security guard for a wealthy L.A.-based woman who had an ongoing dispute with her husband. Rodriguez received cash payments in exchange for his shifts.<\/p>\n Through his employment, according to the plea agreement, Rodriguez learned that his client was concerned for her safety and believed her husband \u2014 identified only by his initials T.F. \u2014 possessed valuable goods that she said belonged to her. After learning that his client couldn\u2019t locate her husband, Rodriguez admitted to obtaining a warrant in July 2022 under false pretenses in order to find him.<\/p>\n In an affidavit, Rodriguez falsely said that a detective contacted him and asked for help from the department\u2019s gang surveillance team in connection with a robbery that occurred three days prior in Cudahy, according to the U.S. attorney\u2019s office in L.A. Rodriguez falsely indicated that the victim\u2019s cellphone number was associated with the robbery suspect.<\/p>\n After serving the search warrant on the phone provider, Rodriguez obtained GPS location pings associated with T.F.\u2019s cellphone that showed he was in Utah. Rodriguez admitted in his plea agreement to sharing that information with Saavedra and later learning that Sheriff\u2019s Department deputies towed the victim\u2019s vehicle while he was in Los Angeles and that co-conspirators placed a tracking device on the victim\u2019s vehicle in Utah and sent a threatening text message to him.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was not impulsive conduct or a momentary lapse in judgment,\u201d prosecutors said in a sentencing memo. \u201cIt was a calculated abuse of authority carried out with full awareness of its significance.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of his employment, Rodriguez also worked as a security guard for Iza, 25, who resided in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach. Among those charged related to their work for Iza are Saavedra, Scott Simkins, Christopher Michael Cadman and Michael David Coberg. <\/p>\n