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View Winners → Attorney Pleads ‘No Contest’ to Smuggling Drugs into Jail
Arcadia Weekly Dec 18, 2014
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An attorney pleaded recently to smuggling $30,000 worth of heroin inside a greeting card he delivered to one his clients incarcerated in county jail, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Stephen Beecher, 63, returns to court on Jan. 27 for sentencing before Superior Court Judge Craig Veals in case number BA409719. The Sherman Oaks resident is expected to receive two years in custody in exchange for the “no contest” plea to one felony count of bringing drugs into jail.
Deputy District Attorney Arisa Mattson with the Justice System Integrity Division is prosecuting the case.
One of two co-defendants charged with Beecher also pleaded and was immediately sentenced today.
Jessica Paredes, 21, pleaded no contest to one felony count of conspiracy and was sentenced to two years in custody and given credit for time served.
Paredes “ironed and flattened” packages of heroin to fit inside a greeting card envelope to be delivered to her boyfriend, Jesus Antonio Duenas, 21.
Duenas, Beecher’s client who is charged in the same case, returns to court on Jan. 27 for pretrial. He is awaiting sentencing for attempted murder in a separate case.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case.
