INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – An ex-Riverside County sheriff’s deputy who searched a secure computer network without permission, or a legitimate reason, pleaded guilty today to misdemeanor charges and was immediately sentenced to a year of probation.
Matthew Enrique Estrada, 53, of Blythe on Friday admitted two counts of unlawfully accessing privileged information via government computers. The charges were originally filed as felonies, but under a pretrial agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, the offenses were reduced to misdemeanors.
During a hearing at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, Superior Court Judge John Ryan certified the terms of the agreement and imposed the stipulated sentence, which, along with 12 months’ probation, included a requirement that Estrada relinquish his Peace Officer Standards & Training — POST — certification, making him ineligible to work as a law enforcement officer anywhere in California…