Abuse, conspiracy charges ensnare 9 Northern California cops in massive FBI probe

Nine former and current police officers are facing widespread corruption charges in Northern California after participating in years of suspected misdeeds including wire fraud, destroying evidence and planned racially-motived police brutality, a federal prosecutor announced this week.

Following a series of FBI raids across three states in which nine officers were arrested Thursday, Ismail J. Ramsey, the U.S. Attorney for California’s Northern District, said the defendants − named in four separate indictments − “acted as though they were above the law.”

Officers from two police departments in Antioch and Pittsburg - cities in San Francisco's Bay Area − also face allegations they falsified records to receive raises, conspired to illegally distribute drugs and violated citizens' civil rights.

In other cases, authorities said, officers deployed police dogs on at least two dozen occasions to purposely harm people.

Nine defendants − five Antioch officers and four Pittsburg cops − as well as one Antioch community service officer, participated in the alleged crimes, which prosecutors say took place across Contra Costa County, just to the east of San Francisco.

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More than 100 FBI agents make 9 arrests in 3 states

More than 100 agents served arrest warrants on the nine former officers beginning Thursday morning in Texas, California and Hawaii, in what Robert Tripp, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco Field Office, called the result of two years of "painstaking methodical work."

A 10th officer’s arrest was pending, officials said.

The FBI identified the following defendants and their respective charges in the case:

• Morteza Amiri: (Antioch)
• Brauli Rodriguez Jalapa (Pittsburg and Oakland Housing Authority)
• Patrick Berhan (Pittsburg)
• Ernesto Juan Mejia-Orozco (Pittsburg)
• Samantha Genoveva Peterson (Antioch community service officer)
• Amanda Carmella Theodosy (aka Nash) (Pittsburg)
• Eric Allen Rombough (Antioch)
• Devin Wenger (Antioch)
• Daniel Harris (Antioch)
• Timothy Manly Williams (Antioch)

'The college degree benefits fraud indictment'

Ramsey referred to the first indictment as the “college degree benefits fraud indictment" and said its six defendants conspired to defraud Antioch and Pittsburg police departments out of taxpayer dollars by claiming they earned college credits towards degrees when "they hired people to attend classes and take exams for them." 

The defendants, Amiri, Jalapa, Berhan, Mejia-Orozco, Peterson and Theodosy −are charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Both of their former police departments' policies permitted reimbursement for the tuition cost and awarded salary raise to officer who earned college degrees, according to the indictment. All of them, Ramsey said, conspired to defrauded their departments for financial gain "without putting in the work."

Steroids distribution indictment

The second indictment charges Wegner and Harris with:

• Conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute anabolic steroids
• Attempted possession with intent to distribute anabolic steroids
• Possession with intent to distribute anabolic steroids
• Destruction, alteration and falsification of records in federal investigations.

According to the indictment, the pair conspired to illegally distribute the drugs and one of them attempted to delete evidence of the scheme from his cell phone before handing it over to law enforcement.

The obstruction indictment

Williams is listed as the sole defendant in the third indictment. He is charged with destruction, alteration and falsification of records in federal investigations, obstruction of official proceedings and deprivation of rights under color of law.

The indictment details how the former Antioch officer was assigned to monitor a wire tap and used his personal cell phone to call a target of the wire tap to prevent the call from being recorded during the wiretap.

The civil rights violation, Ramsey said, stems from a case in which he allegedly confiscated a person's phone to damage it to prevent evidence from leaking.

'Deprivation of rights indictment'

The final 29-page indictment describes "a disturbing litany of civil rights violations," by three Antioch officers − Amiri, Rombough and Wegner – whose alleged crimes include improperly deploying a police dog and weapons to purposely harm "residents in and around Antioch."

"The defendants boasted about their illegal use of force in text messages between one another," Ramsey said, adding they also shared photos of their victims' injuries and collected mementos like spent ammunition from "their attacks".

In text exchanges, the indictment shows, the defendants called suspects in some case "gorillas."

The officers also "laughed and joked about harming people who apparently had surrendered or appeared to be asleep by setting Amiri's police dog on them" the Associated Press reported, while another officer reportedly shot them with a 40mm "less-lethal" projectile launcher."

The dog bit 28 people over a three-year period, the outlet reported, while the officer used the launcher 11 times in 2020 and 2021.

All three men face charges of conspiracy against rights, deprivation of rights under color of law and destruction and falsification of records in federal investigations.

Not guilty pleas entered in some cases

On Thursday, Ramsey said court appearances were being scheduled.

The Mercury News reported Friday Amiri, Rombough Berhan, Peterson, Jalapa and Mejia-Orozco had already pleaded not guilty to their respective charges and that most of them had posted bond.

If convicted of the charges, the defendants could face decades in prison under federal law.

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'Above the law'

In a statement released to USA TODAY Friday, Anticoh Acting Chief of Police Joe Vigils called the arrest of the department's current and former officers disheartening saying it "undermines the incredible work our staff does on a daily basis."

"Any police officer who breaks public trust must be held accountable, especially because our effectiveness relies heavily on confidence and support from our community," Vigils said. "From the beginning of this investigation, our administration has been fully cooperating with these agencies, and will continue to do so. No individual – including a police officer – is above the law."

The chief said he could not comment further on the ongoing criminal and internal investigations.

Pittsburg police did not immediately respond to USA TODAY.

Bull horns and a flash bang

A defense attorney for one defendant, Michael Rains, told NBC Bay Area the raid was "completely unnecessary."

"The FBI agents, including some from Southern California, used a flash bang and bullhorns during the forcible arrest of his client, adding the officer would have surrendered if asked," the outlet reported.

The lawyer said some of the officers were being held in a federal detention center in Oakland.

'A dark day'

"Today is a dark day in our city's history, as people trusted to uphold the law, allegedly breached that trust and were arrested by the FBI," Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe released in a statement Thursdy, calling the arrests "the beginning of the end of a long and arduous process."

In his statement, Thorpe went on to defend himself being accused of being anti-cop earlier this year when he announced the city was launching an independent investigation into the text-message case.

"To those that have accused me and others of being anti-police for seeking to reform the Antioch Police Department, today’s arrests are demonstrative of the issues that have plagued the Antioch Police Department for decades," Thorpe said. "Seeking to reform the Antioch Police Department is not anti-police, it is pro our residents, and pro officers that have served and continue to serve with honor."

Conspiracy indictment

Wire fraud indictment

Contributing: The Associated Press

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @nataliealund.