Former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Paul Felix was just sentenced to four years in state prison for bringing drugs into the very jails that he was charged with protecting. He must have done it for the money, right? As a deputy with two years on, Felix was probably going to make close to $100,000, in the full year he left the Sheriff’s Department. With a salary like that, the idea of supplementing one’s income by a few thousand dollars does not seem to warrant the risk losing your job or going to prison. Why then would Deputy Felix risk everything to smuggle drugs into jail? Was the lure of the fast dollar too much to handle? Should we believe Felix’s attorney who claims his client was simply a nice guy and just wanted to be liked by everyone? I certainly don’t buy that explanation.
Could there be another reason why he did this? When Felix was arrested, he had over $5,000.00 in cash on him and a large amount of narcotics that were intended to be brought into the LA County Jail system. According to court documents Felix claims he only brought drugs into the jail a few times. The first time he was paid around $600.00, the second time around $2,000 and the third time around $4,000. If this is true, how did he end up with $5,000 in his pocket the day he was arrested? Maybe Deputy Felix was not being completely honest with the Probation Officer who interviewed him for his pre-sentence report?
If Felix was conducting one transaction a month and did that for a whole year, he could supplement his income by somewhere between $7,200 and $60,000 per year. And this is cash money which is not likely to get reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Now my questions becomes, Is it worth risking one’s job and prison time for between $7,200 and $60,000 per year? My answer is no. Deputy Felix’s answer was different.
He will have a great deal of time to think about his decisions. He should serve approximately fifty per cent of his four year sentence. That means he would likely be released in two years. Good luck inmate Felix. I understand that former peace officers often have a hard time in prison. I hope your time passes quickly, that you parole early and soon become a tax-paying, productive member of society.
If you have questions about this or any other criminal case contact me:
www.4criminaldefense.com or vallenslaw@yahoo.com