Former South Coast Sheriff's deputy gets jail sentence after prosecutors say he destroyed evidence in a case

December 22, 2021

A former deputy sheriff on the South Coast has been sentenced to jail for destroying evidence in a case.

Prosecutors say Richard Charles Barrios threw away key evidence in a case. In 2019, the Ventura County Sheriff's deputy stopped a female driver for a traffic violation in Camarillo, and suspected she was under the influence of drugs.

He took her to the Camarillo station, and gave her a drug test. But, prosecutors say he threw it away, and arranged for her to be driven to the main jail. When she complained to another deputy, the officer looked in the trash, and found the test. It showed she was negative for drugs.

Barrios pled guilty to a charge of destroying physical matter. The 29-year-old man was sentenced to 365 days in jail and two years probation.