Former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy Eric Saavedra was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison after admitting that he abused law-enforcement authority while providing security for Adam Iza, a self-styled cryptocurrency businessman and criminal defendant. Saavedra pleaded guilty in February 2025 to conspiracy against rights; an earlier account also said he pleaded guilty to making and subscribing to a false tax return. He unlawfully accessed sensitive databases, obtained personal information and used a false firearms-investigation claim to secure cellphone-location data that he passed to Iza. Iza later sent three armed men to a victim’s home in an effort to take a laptop believed to contain more than $100 million in cryptocurrency. Saavedra concealed $373,146 in income from the Internal Revenue Service and was ordered to pay $90,984 in restitution. His security company recruited 20 to 25 deputies and other law-enforcement personnel to guard Iza, who paid roughly $100,000 a month while guards received about $750 per shift. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson cited Saavedra’s prompt and extensive cooperation in imposing the lighter term. Saavedra was the last of five former deputies sentenced in the scheme. Iza, 26, remains in federal custody and is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Anderson on Oct. 5 on conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and tax evasion charges, while serving a 15-year sentence related to an attempted Bitcoin robbery and kidnapping in Connecticut.