LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Ex-Deputy Pleads Not Guilty in Drug Money Case
An ex-sheriff’s deputy serving 16 years in federal prison for a corruption conviction pleaded not guilty Monday to conspiracy for allegedly skimming nearly $400,000 from money seized from drug dealers.
Fired deputy Macario Duran, 48, of Northridge, was named in the new federal indictment, along with suspended deputies Jesse Clarence Miller, 49, of Los Angeles, and Robert James Bardon, 40, of Canyon Country. Miller also entered a not guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Volney Brown. Bardon will appear next week.
Trial was set for July 12 before U.S. District Judge Robert Takasugi.
The indictment charges that Duran and Miller, who were members of an elite narcotics investigation team, conspired with others to steal the money between 1987 and 1989.
Nearly two dozen deputies have been convicted in the long-running probe.
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