A former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputy was sentenced today to 12 months in prison for submitting a false search warrant application to a state court judge, claiming that he needed GPS tracking information for a robbery suspect’s cell phone when it was actually for a private client’s estranged husband during the client’s contentious divorce proceedings.
David Anthony Rodriguez, 45, of La Verne, was sentenced by US District Judge Percy Anderson.
In July 2025, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against rights. He departed LASD in October 2025.
According to court documents, while engaged on active duty in law enforcement
Officer Rodriguez received financial payments for his job as a private security guard for a rich Los Angeles client who hired a private security company operated by a former LASD colleague, Eric Chase Saavedra, 43, of Chino. In August 2021, Rodriguez began working for Saavedra, whose company provided private security services to
Clients frequently employed active LASD deputies and law enforcement officials.
One of their clients was Adam Iza, 25, a self-proclaimed bitcoin businessman who lived in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach and has been in federal detention since September 2024. Iza pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges in California and Connecticut, including conspiracy against rights, wire fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, and is awaiting sentencing.
Rodriguez began working as a security guard for Iza and another rich Los Angeles-based individual – named in court filings as “Person 1” – who were in a dispute with her husband, the victim. Rodriguez worked for Person 1 at least twice a month and had a close connection with her. He received cash payments in exchange for his stints as a security guard for Person 1.
While working as Person 1’s private security guard, Rodriguez discovered that Person 1 was anxious about her own safety and felt her husband held costly items that she claimed belonged to her. Rodriguez also found that Person 1 was unable to locate the victim despite several tries.
In July 2022, Rodriguez obtained a search warrant for the victim after lying in an affidavit to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. In the affidavit, Rodriguez falsely claimed that a detective contacted him and requested assistance from LASD’s Gang Surveillance Team in connection with a robbery three days earlier in Cudahy.
The affidavit also falsely claimed that Rodriguez was able to positively identify a suspect involved in the heist and that the suspect utilized two cell phones. Rodriguez falsely claimed in the affidavit that the victim’s cell phone number was linked to the robbery suspect. The search warrant application sought, among other things, GPS precision position information for the cell phone. Rodriguez knew that the victim’s cell phone number had nothing to do with the robbery investigation.
Rodriguez further falsely stated in the affidavit that he believed the search warrant would allow the detective to find the suspect using GPS coordinates and assist the detective in arresting the suspect on the allegation of assault with a deadly weapon.
After serving the search order on the telephone company, Rodriguez got GPS location pings connected with the victim’s cell phone, which he later tracked down in Utah and shared with Saavedra. Rodriguez admitted in his plea agreement that he was aware that Saavedra and other LASD deputies working with Saavedra had illegally obtained information and used it to threaten, intimidate, or oppress others.
Rodriguez later discovered that, at the request of co-conspirators, LASD deputies towed the victim’s vehicle while the victim remained in Los Angeles, that co-conspirators had installed a tracking device on the victim’s vehicle in Utah, and that co-conspirators had sent a threatening text message to the victim.
“This was not impulsive conduct or a momentary lapse in judgment,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memo. “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 filing and subscribing to a false tax return. He’s expected to be sentenced in the coming months.
Leave a Reply