A former Los Angeles County deputy was sentenced Monday to nearly two years behind bars for violating the civil rights of victims through intimidation, illegal search warrants and other abuses of law enforcement power.
Eric Chase Saavedra, 42, of Chino, who once served as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detective in the anti-gang unit and federal task-force officer, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson, who also ordered him to pay $90,984 in restitution.
Saavedra pleaded guilty in February 2025 to single federal counts of conspiracy and filing a false tax return tied to his role in carrying out the criminal bidding of Adam Iza, a crypto mogul who called himself “the godfather.”
As part of his plea, Saavedra agreed to forfeit dozens of Louis Vuitton bags and pairs of Gucci shoes, five Louis Vuitton wallets, and a money-counting machine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to court documents, Iza, 26, who lived in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, was a self-styled crypto businessman who hired off-duty LASD deputies to act as his personal enforcers against his enemies. As part of the conspiracy, Iza had the deputies assist him in carrying out extortion, intimidation, setting people up for arrest, and abuse of legal process, prosecutors said.
One of the deputies Iza employed was Saavedra, who ran a private security company as a side hustle, providing LASD deputies and other law enforcement officers as hired muscle, according to court documents.
Beginning in 2021, Iza hired Saavedra’s firm to provide round-the-clock security at a typical cost of $100,000 per month. Iza used the company periodically until his arrest in September 2024, prosecutors said.
Saavedra admitted to illegally using his LASD credentials to access sensitive law enforcement databases and obtain personal identifiable information about people Iza had personal or business disputes with, as well as their associates and family members.
In one case, Saavedra created a fake search warrant that he used to intimidate someone, according to his plea agreement. In another, the deputy admitted, he misled a narcotics detective, resulting in a drug raid on the home of a man Iza had extorted.
Saavedra further admitted to receiving nearly $373,146 in unreported income and filing a false tax return for 2021.
Iza, who has been in federal custody since September 2024, pleaded guilty in January 2025 to one count each of conspiracy, wire fraud, and tax evasion. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 5 in Los Angeles federal court.
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 the Iza case. They received prison sentences ranging from a year to over five years.