Off-duty deputy threatens crypto businessman’s rival inside CA mansion, feds say
Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who worked as private security for a “now-jailed” cryptocurrency businessman are charged with civil rights violations in connection with their off-duty jobs, according to federal prosecutors.
Christopher Michael Cadman, 33 of Fullerton, was one of multiple deputies hired by 24-year-old Adam Iza “to act as his personal enforcers against his enemies,” prosecutors said in January, when Iza agreed to plead guilty to federal charges.
In August 2021, Cadman and another deputy “intimidated and threatened” one of Iza’s rivals inside his Bel Air mansion, according to a July 14 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
The other deputy, “LASD Deputy 6,” “held the victim at gunpoint during a meeting” at Iza’s home office, leading the man to “immediately” transfer about $25,000 to Iza, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors charged Cadman on July 14 with conspiracy against rights and subscribing to a false tax return, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He agreed to plead guilty that day.
Information on Cadman’s legal representation was not immediately available the morning of July 16.
For the civil rights charge, Cadman admitted to helping arrest Iza’s rival during a traffic stop and “to receiving cash payments while he worked for Iza,” according to prosecutors.
The man was pulled over in September 2021 by Cadman and other officers accused of coordinating the traffic stop “on Iza’s behalf,” one month after he was threatened in Iza’s Bel Air mansion, prosecutors said.
Cadman was also charged with a tax offense related to not reporting at least $40,500 on his tax return for 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told McClatchy News on July 15 that Cadman was “relieved of duty” on Oct. 30.
David Anthony Rodriguez, 43, of La Verne, another LASD deputy hired by Iza, pleaded guilty on July 14 to a conspiracy against rights, prosecutors said.
Rodriguez worked for Iza, who nicknamed himself “The Godfather,” and other clients through a private security company founded by LASD deputy and former federal task force officer Eric Chase Saavedra, according to prosecutors.
The charge against Rodriguez is related to his private security work for another client, a “wealthy” Los Angeles woman who was feuding with her husband over money and personal issues, prosecutors wrote in Rodriguez’s plea agreement.
Prosecutors said in the release that by pleading guilty, Rodriguez “admitted to using his powers as a law enforcement officer in July 2022 to improperly obtain a court-authorized search warrant, lying to a judge that it was related to a robbery investigation, to obtain GPS location information associated with (the husband’s) cellular phone on behalf” of the woman, “who hired Rodriguez as a private security guard.”
Attorney Michael D. Schwartz, who was retained by Rodriguez, told McClatchy News via email on July 15 that Rodriguez “is a good man who, regretfully, made a mistake which he has admitted, and taken responsibility.”
After prosecutors said Rodriguez wrongly obtained a warrant and the GPS coordinates for his client’s husband, he shared the man’s location information “with co-conspirators,” including Saavedra.
Rodriguez, according to court filings, “would track (the husband’s) physical location using GPS pings” and helped his fellow deputies “locate, oppress, intimidate, harass, and threaten Victim T.F.”
Rodriguez was removed from his position as a LASD deputy on Oct. 29, 2023, according to the department.
Businessman and LASD deputy plead guilty
On Jan. 17, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Iza and Saveedra — in connection with Saveedra’s private security company, Saavedra & Associates LLC — agreed to plead guilty to charges “for their roles in a conspiracy that targeted multiple victims in Los Angeles, violating their civil rights via intimidation, extortion, illegal search warrants and other abuses of police power.”
Iza has been detained on federal charges since September, prosecutors said.
Iza pleaded guilty on Jan. 30 to conspiracy against rights, one count of wire fraud, and one count of tax evasion, prosecutors said.
Attorney Josef Sadat, who Iza retained to represent him, told McClatchy News on July 15 that “Mr. Iza has already independently accepted responsibility for his own actions surrounding these matters, which largely (although not completely) initially originated when he was still a teenager.”
Saavedra’s retained attorney, Brian N. Gurwitz, declined McClatchy News’ request for comment July 15.
On Feb. 6, Saavedra pleaded guilty to conspiracy against rights and subscribing to a false tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Saavedra was “relieved of” LASD duty on March 13, the department told McClatchy News.
“These alleged actions, as detailed in federal court documents, are deeply disturbing and do not reflect the values of our Department or the dedicated work of the vast majority of our deputies who serve with integrity,” the LASD said in its statement, adding that the agency “has fully cooperated with the ongoing federal investigation.”
Saavedra was previously released from federal custody on a $50,000 bond, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and is supposed to be sentenced in the next few months.
Rodriguez is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 10, records show.
Cadman was expected to have his initial court appearance this week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
This story was originally published July 16, 2025 at 8:17 AM with the headline "Off-duty deputy threatens crypto businessman’s rival inside CA mansion, feds say."
.jpg)