L.A. County jail worker pleads no contest to attempting to smuggle meth into men’s facility
A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s custody assistant pleaded no contest to Friday to charges that he attempted to smuggle methamphetamine into the Men’s Central Jail in 2018, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said.
Jose Flores, 43, pleaded to a felony count of attempting to bring an illegal substance into the jail and was immediately sentenced to two years of formal probation and 300 hours of community service.
“Someone who tries to smuggle drugs into a jail is betraying the public’s trust and creates an unsafe environment,” Dist. Atty. George Gascón said in a news release.
The charges stem from a November 2018 bust in which investigators found 100 grams of meth inside Flores’ car in the jail’s parking structure near downtown L.A.
Charges against Flores were not filed until Nov. 2021, three years after the bust.
Custody assistants are not sworn members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department but help patrol county jails and supervise inmates.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
