LOS ANGELES — A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced Monday to 21 months in federal prison for using his law enforcement powers to help a cryptocurrency businessman target adversaries and for concealing more than $373,000 in income from the IRS.
U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson also ordered Eric Chase Saavedra, 42, of Chino, to pay $90,984 in restitution. Saavedra pleaded guilty in February 2025 to conspiracy against rights and filing a false tax return.
A security client with access to police powers
Saavedra operated a private security company that employed active deputies. Adam Iza, a self-styled cryptocurrency businessman, hired the company to provide round-the-clock security at his Bel Air home for about $100,000 a month, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Saavedra used sheriff’s department credentials to search confidential law enforcement databases for information about people involved in disputes with Iza. He also obtained search warrants under false pretenses to locate targets.
False warrant preceded attempted robbery
In January 2022, Saavedra falsely told a judge that a man’s phone number was connected to a firearms investigation, prosecutors said. The resulting warrant gave him location information that he passed to Iza.
Iza believed the man had a laptop containing more than $100 million in cryptocurrency. Two months later, three armed people tried to enter the man’s home to steal it. They fled after the man fired a shot in their direction, according to court documents.
Saavedra also admitted receiving about $373,146 in unreported income. Under his plea agreement, he agreed to forfeit purchases that included 32 Louis Vuitton bags, 27 pairs of Gucci shoes and a money-counting machine. He is the fifth former sheriff’s deputy sentenced in the investigation. Iza has pleaded guilty in the federal case and is serving a separate 15-year sentence arising from an attempted Bitcoin robbery and kidnapping in Connecticut.
Quick fact checklist
🔴 Sentence: 21 months in federal prison for former deputy Eric Chase Saavedra.
🔴 Restitution: $90,984.
🔴 Abuse of authority: Prosecutors said he searched confidential databases and obtained a warrant under false pretenses for Adam Iza.
🔴 Tax offense: Saavedra admitted concealing about $373,146 in income.
🔴 Wider case: Five former L.A. County sheriff’s deputies have been sentenced.
Iza is serving a 15-year federal prison sentence for his involvement in an attempted robbery of Bitcoin and a kidnapping in Connecticut in August 2024.
Saavedra is the fifth former LASD deputy to be sentenced in this matter. The other four former LASD deputies are:
- Michael David Coberg, 45, of Eastvale, is serving a 63-month federal prison sentence for helping Iza extort a rival and arranging the sham illegal drug possession arrest of another adversary in Paramount in 2021. Judge Anderson sentenced Coberg on March 16.
- Scott Allen Simpkins, 34, of Brea, was sentenced on July 13 to 18 months in federal prison for obstructing a federal investigation into Iza’s extortion of $25,000 from a party planner at Iza’s Bel Air mansion.
- David Anthony Rodriguez, 45, of La Verne, was sentenced on July 20 to one year in federal prison and who had worked for Iza as a private security guard, pleaded guilty to submitting a false search warrant application to a state court judge on behalf of a different client.
- Christopher Michael Cadman, 34, of Fullerton, was sentenced on September 14 to 21 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution for abusing his status as a law enforcement officer to threaten and intimidate adversaries of a now-imprisoned, self-proclaimed cryptocurrency businessman, and for cheating on his taxes.
Relatedly, Judge Anderson on September 21 sentenced Iris Rabaya Au, 37, of Irvine, to 18 months in federal prison and ordered her to pay $1,484,343 in restitution for failing to report more than $2.6 million in ill-gotten gains she obtained via the criminal activities of Iza, her former boyfriend.