A U.S. Border Patrol agent who was found dead in a Riverside County home earlier this year after arrest in Long Beach He overdosed on cocaine and suffered from depression, according to an autopsy report released Tuesday.
Isaiah Hodgson, 29, was found dead in his Hemet bedroom in late August with white “powdery residue” next to him, according to investigative documents released by the Riverside County Sheriff's Office in response to a public records request from The Times.
Authorities ruled Hodgson's death accidental and found three plastic binders typically used to store drugs in his stomach, according to the coroner's report. Riverside County sheriff's officials previously said there were no signs of foul play at the scene and the report confirmed Hodgson did not suffer any injuries or injuries while defending himself. The official cause of death was described as “cocaine toxicity.”
At the beginning of July Hodgson was arrested in Long Beach for fighting with city police. Prosecutors charged Hodgson with three counts of resisting arrest, one count of battery causing injury to a police officer and several weapons offenses after he got into a fight with officers responding to a call at a restaurant in Shoreline Village. Employees kicked Hodgson out, saying he had drunkenly wandered into the women's restroom armed with a gun.
In dramatic body camera video reviewed by The Times, Long Beach police officers approached Hodgson on July 7 after a 911 call made by a security guard saying Hodgson had shown him a gun.
“He showed me the damn clip,” the caller said in the 911 audio obtained by The Times.
As the officers approached Hodgson, they shouted, “Get on the ground” and “Put your hands up.”
Hodgson raised his hands up but couldn't get down to the ground. He suggested to the officers that he worked for the police department: “You are stupid, I am a police officer,” he said.
It took several officers to force Hodgson to kneel on the ground. One officer repeatedly used a stun gun on him.
Charges against Hodgson are expected to be dropped at a court hearing next month, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.
In June, Hodgson became a high-profile face of the Trump administration's sweeping immigration enforcement efforts in Southern California after being exposed as an agent involved in controversial detention of Walmart employee Adrian Martinez, a US citizen. Martinez was accused of obstructing Border Patrol agents' attempts to apprehend one of his colleagues. Martinez has been charged and is awaiting trial.
Hodgson was part of a group of officers who attacked Martinez and wrestled him to the ground. Although the video from the scene does not show Hodgson making physical contact with Martinez, his name quickly became public knowledge as he was the only agent involved in the controversial arrest who was not wearing a mask.
According to the coroner's report, Hodgson was supposed to meet his parents on the beach on the day of his death, but never showed up. His cousin went to Hodgson's house to check on his welfare and found his body.
Hodgson's parents told police that their son “was depressed after being on administrative leave, but they stated that he was not suicidal and did not have any suicidal thoughts,” according to the report. Hodgson previously struggled with cocaine and alcohol abuse, his family said in documents. But they said Hodgson had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous for about two months, according to the coroner's report.
A handwritten note found in Hodgson's car was initially believed to be a suicide note but was later determined to be “a character witness statement from Hodgson dated June 2025,” according to the coroner's report. The report said Hodgson “received death threats” after his personal information was posted online.
When Hodgson was questioned by police after his arrest, body camera video showed him saying he was struggling with the stress and fallout of being publicly identified online.
Body camera footage provided by the Long Beach Police Department.
“Have you ever posted your personal information online and on the f—ing news,” he said. “Have you ever had fucking people get up at your parents house because you're here in L.A. doing everything, man, that's the kind of f*cking guy I am.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly said its officers have faced an increase in death threats as protests intensified against the Trump administration's sweeping immigration raids in major cities including Los Angeles and Chicago. The government recently sued California over a law that prohibits all local and federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks while on duty in public.
Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Border Patrol did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Times staff writer Britney Mejia contributed to this report.
