Ex-L.A. County sheriff’s jailer gets 2 1/2 years in bribery, drug case
A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s jailer was convicted Friday on charges related to taking a $700 bribe and smuggling cocaine behind bars, prosecutors said.
Remington Orr, 25, pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe and possession of a controlled substance in jail, both felonies. He allegedly had two ounces of cocaine when he was arrested at Men’s Central Jail in February 2012.
According to the district attorney’s office, he agreed to a sentence of 2 1/2 years.
In a separate case, Orr, who resigned from the department, also pleaded guilty to permitting a loaded firearm in a vehicle and driving with a suspended license.
Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said the former employee, who worked as a custody assistant, “was prosecuted under the full extent of the law and it once again shows the sheriff is tough on crime.”
A confidential sheriff’s memo shows that, days before his arrest last year, Orr faced other allegations of misconduct. According to the memo reviewed by The Times, an inmate informant told deputies that Orr threatened him for asking for shoes, and “flashed a gang sign signaling gang affiliation to a ‘blood set.’”
Whitmore said he was unaware of the allegations.
Orr is the latest in a string of sheriff’s employees who have been accused of delivering contraband behind bars, helping to fuel a lucrative jailhouse drug trade.
At least four have been convicted in recent years for smuggling or attempting to smuggle contraband into jail for inmates. In one notable case, a sheriff’s deputy was arrested after allegedly trying to smuggle heroin into a courthouse lockup inside a bean-and-cheese burrito.
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