A longtime detective in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's anti-gang unit admitted to violating the civil rights of several victims through threats, extortion, illegal search warrants and other abuses of power, according to plea agreements filed this week.
Eric Chase Saavetra, an active LA County deputy and former federal task force officer, agreed this week to plead guilty to conspiracy and tax crimes linked to his role in doing the criminal bidding of crypto mogul Adam Issa, known as “The Godfather.” ” the officials said. Saavetra faces up to 13 years in prison.
Issa, 24, agreed to plead guilty to similar charges except wire fraud. He faces up to 35 years in prison, although a plea deal is likely to reduce his sentence. Isa has been in custody since then September And last month he was flown to Las Vegas for surgery to remove rods from leg-lengthening surgery, which prosecutors say he paid with hidden money from tax collectors.
Through 2021, Issa paid Saavetra's private security firm — which he ran on the side in addition to a side job — $100,000 a month for 24-hour bodyguards, court filings say. According to Saavetra's plea agreement, hired muscle protected Isa and sometimes committed crimes for him. For each 12-hour shift, Saavetra agreed, he picked two people from a list of 20 to 25 active agents and paid them $750 in cash. Although it was not an official department job, as per contract, some deputies often carried guns and flashed their LASD badges.
Saavetra, 41, admitted to illegally using his department credentials to access law enforcement databases and obtain personally identifiable information about people with whom Isa had personal or business disputes and their associates and family members.
In one case, Saavetra created a fake search warrant and used it to intimidate someone into signing a contract. In another, the deputy admitted, he misled a narcotics detective, resulting in a drug raid at the home of a man Issa had previously extorted money from. In a third case, Saavetra said he lied to obtain a warrant, falsely saying he wanted to track a man's cell phone as part of a gun investigation.
After he obtained a warrant and tracked down the victim's location, he gave that information to Issa — and then three men with guns tried to break into the man's home.
“Mr. Isa and Mr. Saavetra's relationship was little more than a rough partnership between a thief and a crooked cop,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent Tyler Hatcher. “The public should trust members of law enforcement, but Mr. Saavetra violated his oath for pay.”
Issa and Saavetra's plea agreements both detail a series of crimes involving Saavetra and other unnamed sheriff's deputies who allegedly harassed, threatened and extorted people for Issa's criminal purposes. So far, at least six deputies have been fired in connection with the case. The Times reported last year. The Sheriff's Department did not immediately confirm whether Saavetra was one of them.
In a statement, Issa's attorney, Joseph Sadat, called his client “one of the smartest people I've ever met.”
“Hopefully, others involved, whose actions were more morally reprehensible than Mr. Issa's, will soon follow his path as their relative ages and social positions lead to true redemption,” Sadat said.
Both Saavetra's attorney and a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Department said early Friday that they would respond to the plea agreements, but did not immediately provide a statement.
The beginning of a payday
Saavetra said in his petition that he first learned of Issa in August 2021, through fellow deputies who recently worked on the crypto mogul's security at his Bel Air mansion. In the same month, Iza hired Saavedra to provide security services.
Has a long history in the vice industry, and in 2018 got a tattoo on his left ankle of Lakewood Station's unofficial logo, which was a shovel with the number 13 inside it, according to his plea deal.
Saavetra admits 20 to 25 representatives and others are employed with Iza 24/7. At times, Saavetra worked in shifts by herself.
According to his plea agreement, Saavetra routinely used his LASD credentials to access classified databases and obtain information for Issa. Sometimes, his fellow reps in his company do the same.
Saavedra said he and other representatives provided the crypto mogul with personal information on several individuals, including three victims — identified in the contract as RC, EZ and DD — who had disputes with Issa.
One of the earlier incidents, described by prosecutors in court filings last year, occurred in August 2021 during a party at Issa's Bel-Air mansion. Issa was unhappy with the party and wanted the party planner – RC – to refund half the cost to him, the lawyers said.
Last year, lawyers Charged in the charge sheet Two of Issa's bodyguards held RC at gunpoint and forced him to return the $25,000 he had been paid for his services.
In this week's plea deal, Saavetra admitted he knew the bodyguards — who were both deputies — held one at gunpoint. One of Issa's associates said Arcee was a major fentanyl and cocaine dealer, which led Saavetra to pass the information on to narcotics detectives, according to court filings.
Soon, the narcotics detective tells Saavedra that they got a warrant, but as per Saavetra's deal, no illegal drugs were found in RC's home.
Issa also admitted that in October 2022, sheriff's deputies unlawfully detained another victim in his employ — identified by the initials LA — at his request, holding the victim at gunpoint and forcing Issa to transfer $127,000 to a bank account he controlled.
A $100 million laptop
In late 2021, Saavetra said he learned of a dispute between Iza and EZ over a laptop believed to hold more than $100 million in cryptocurrency. Through court records and interviews, The Times was able to identify EZ as Enzo Gelucci, a self-described “actor, producer and innovator.”
Isa told Saavetra that the laptop was stolen and he needed it to access and exchange cryptocurrency. In an earlier interview with The Times, Zelochi said the laptop belonged to him.
Issa later told Saavetra that he thought Jelochi's accomplice DD might have the laptop. In December 2021, Saavedra, Iza and two other men — including another deputy — went to DD's Orange County home and, according to the Saavedra agreement, DD refused to open the door and spoke to them through the window.
Saavetra admitted in his plea deal that he identified himself as a law enforcement officer, showed his badge and told DD that the stolen laptop from his home was pinging. DD denied having the stolen laptop and after the police arrived, the group left.
As per Saavetra's agreement, he later told Saavedra that he had hired a private investigator and would spend a large sum of money to find Selochi and the laptop. Frustrated by the private investigator's lack of progress, Issa said, Saavetra was prompted to offer a solution: a search warrant for GPS location information associated with Zelocchi's phone.
In January 2022, Saavetra admitted to applying for and obtaining search warrants for several phone numbers, including Jelochi's. According to his plea agreement, Saavetra lied in an affidavit, saying Jelochi's number was linked to a suspect in a gun investigation.
After obtaining an illegally obtained warrant, Saavetra began receiving pings for Jelochi's phone, finding the approximate location. Soon after, Saavetra admitted to the LA neighborhood where the phone pinged and found Jelochi outside a residence in an apartment complex.
According to court filings, Saavetra told Issa that she found Jelochi and the two watched the apartment complex and the apartment.
Issa admitted that he ordered three men to try to force open the door of Jelochi's residence, but they fled when Jelochi fired a gun in their direction.
A forged search warrant
In 2022, Isa told Saavedra that one of his business associates — identified in court records as Client 1 — was involved in stealing large amounts of cryptocurrency and was interested in hiring private security. According to Saavetra's plea agreement, Issa told Saavetra that if Client 1 thought there was something to worry about, he could get the client's business.
To do that, Issa allegedly suggested intimidating Client 1 with a prepared interrogation. So Saavetra created a fake search warrant and used an official Sheriff's Department template to make it legal.
After writing the false document that mentioned cryptocurrency and digital services, Saavetra arranged for another accomplice to share it with Issa, who showed it to a potential client, according to court filings.
Shortly thereafter, Client 1 hired Saavetra's firm for security.
Saavedra and his company provided services to Isa from August 2021 to March 2022, when Isa moved to Dubai, according to the plea agreement. When Issa returned to LA in July 2024, those services resumed until Issa's arrest in September.
Meta Platforms Inc. from 2020 to 2022 Issa also admitted to stealing more than $37 million by fraudulently accessing business manager accounts and their associated lines of credit.
Both Issa and Saavetra pleaded guilty to federal tax crimes. Isa avoided an estimated $7 million in federal income taxes for 2021. Saavetra filed a false tax return for 2021 with income of approximately $373,146.
As part of his plea deal, Saavetra said he would pay restitution to victims and pay his taxes with interest. He also agreed to forfeit dozens of designer bags and shoes and a cash-counting machine, all of which were ill-gotten gains or items used in criminal activity, prosecutors said.