Beecher

[District Attorney] – A Sherman Oaks attorney pleaded “no contest” Wednesday to smuggling $30,000 worth of heroin inside a greeting card he delivered to one his clients incarcerated in the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic in 2012.

Stephen Beecher, 63, returns to court on Jan. 27 for sentencing before Superior Court Judge Craig Veals in BA409719. The Sherman Oaks resident is expected to receive two years in custody in exchange for Wednesday’s 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 Wednesday.

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, on Dec. 28, 2012.

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.