SANTA CLARITA / ANTELOPE VALLEY : Ex-Deputy Denies Guilt in Sting

CASTAIC — A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he bought more than two pounds of cocaine in an undercover sting.

William Todd Barr, 25, charged with selling cocaine and possessing cocaine for sale, entered not guilty pleas to the two felony counts in a brief hearing downtown before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Reid.

If convicted, Barr could draw up to five years in prison. The judge set a hearing Wednesday on a defense bid to reduce Barr’s $50,000 bail.

Undercover sheriff’s deputies claim they sold Barr--then a guard at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho near Castaic--a kilogram of cocaine, or 2.2 pounds, on March 2 inside a car parked outside a downtown Los Angeles post office. He was immediately arrested without incident.

Evidence at a preliminary hearing earlier this month included a videotape of the apparent sale. It also featured testimony from a jail inmate at the Pitchess facility who said Barr asked him if he “wanted to do some narcotics deals and if I could help him out.”

That conversation, authorities said, triggered a monthlong investigation that led to the sting.

Prosecutors allege that Barr, of Bellflower, bought the cocaine so that he could take it to Tennessee and become a drug dealer. Defense lawyer Leonard Levine insisted after Thursday’s hearing that Barr is a victim of government entrapment.