On Aug. 17, 10 current and former police officers from the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments in California were arrested in FBI raids stemming from a two-year investigation.
The prosecutors’ allegations depict the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments as being in complete chaos, as officers skirted accountability, showed dangerous and dishonest behavior, and for years “acted as though they were above the law,” Ismail Ramsey, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, said in a news conference according to Washington Post.
In March 2022, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office and the FBI announced they were investigating both police departments for a “broad range of offenses” on “crimes of moral turpitude,” KTVU reported.
Three of the Antioch officers—Morteza Amiri, Eric Rombough, and Devon Wenger—are accused of plotting violence against citizens, collecting so-called “trophies” through their crimes, and reveling in the aftermath of alleged crimes, according to Mercury News.
They’re also accused of falsifying official reports to warrant their violence and not wearing body cameras.
KRON reported that the FBI said agents found plenty of evidence against the officers in their phones, including racist, unethical, and homophobic text messages, as shown by court documents.
According to KRON, the indictment stated that Mr. Rombough excessively shot individuals with less-lethal 40mm munitions.
KRON quoted the document as stating: “Rombough collected the spent 40mm munitions following each deployment and, instead of disposing or processing them, kept them for himself. [He created] a trophy flag … in which the munitions were used among the stars and stripes to commemorate his 40mm deployments.”
KRON reported that court documents show that Mr. Rombough, who was a former professional soccer player, once bragged to fellow officers about kicking the head of a young man and compared it to scoring a field goal.
Mr. Rombough was an Alameda County Sheriff’s Office deputy before transferring to Antioch in 2019, according to the APD’s Facebook.
Even when suspects immediately and peacefully surrendered for arrest, Mr. Rombough shot at them with 44mm munitions and Mr. Amiri deployed his K-9 dog, Purcy. In their police reports, the officers would then untruthfully write that the suspects had resisted arrest, investigators said according to KRON.
KRON reported that Mr. Amiri excessively deployed his Belgian Malinois and took photographs of victims’ dog bites, and the indictment shows that he stored the gory photographs in his phone and sent them to fellow officers.
In February 2019, Mr. Rombough allegedly told Mr. Amiri that he was planning to go after someone who had crossed a fellow officer of theirs and said, “Hopefully get you a bite,” referring to Mr. Amiri’s police dog. Mr. Amiri replied, “Exactly! Blood for blood.”
In July 2019, Mr. Amiri pulled over a bicyclist who didn’t have his lights on, proceeded to punch him multiple times, and unleashed his dog to attack him, according to the indictment. Mr. Amiri shared photos of the victim’s wounds with other officers and described the bicyclist as a “turd,” the indictment states.
In response to a question from another officer about what had cut the dog’s face, he replied, “That’s a piece of the suspect’s flesh lol.”
Another incident occurred on May 5, 2020, when Mr. Amiri’s K-9 bit a man before Mr. Rombough arrested him, KRON stated. According to KRON, Mr. Amiri sent photos and videos of the incident to other staff and texted Mr. Rombough the following day, “Bro yesterday was sooooo fun,” and he said the man was still in county jail. Mr. Rombough replied, “Hopefully he dies.”
Allegedly, the three officers routinely encouraged each other to be violent when making arrests, KRON reported.
According to KRON, the indictment states that between approximately March 2019 and November 2021, Mr. Amiri deployed his K-9 to bite at least 28 people in and around Antioch; and last year, the Antioch PD temporarily suspended the dog and removed Mr. Amiri from its K-9 unit.
Included in the indictment is an incident that took place on Oct. 8, 2020, when Mr. Amiri sent a text with a photo of a homeless man who stole his mail. KRON reported that Mr. Wenger responded, “Let’s beat his [expletive]. I’m serious bro, let’s beat that dude’s [expletive] after work.”
Mr. Amiri texted back, “I tracked him down and dragged him to the back of a car to ‘discuss’ the matter. Putting a pistol in someone’s mouth and telling them to stop stealing isn’t illegal … it’s an act of public service,” Mr. Amiri allegedly wrote.
Mr. Amiri was a Brentwood PD officer before being hired by Antioch, according to KRON.
KRON reported that in 2021, a witness recorded a video of an unwarranted K-9 bite. A fourth officer, Timothy Manly Williams, grabbed the person’s cell phone and destroyed it, according to investigators.
KRON stated that on Aug. 22, 2020, Mr. Wenger wrote in a text to Mr. Amiri: “We need to get into something tonight bro!! Lets go 3 nights in a row dog bite!!! Let’s get [expletive] something to stress out about lol.”
Reportedly, just 20 minutes later, Mr. Amiri sent Mr. Wenger photographs of an arrested suspect’s injuries, captioning the graphic photo, “Hahaha.”
Mr. Wenger was formerly a sniper in the U.S. Army, according to the APD’s Facebook. He was then a deputy for the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office before transferring to the Antioch Police Department in 2018.
Of all the allegations, Mr. Ramsey emphasized the violent crimes by these three as the most “egregious and serious,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“The defendants boasted about their illegal use of force. The officers had no interest in de-escalating to avoid violence,” Mr. Ramsey said, according to KRON.
Officers collected “mementos … from their attacks on the people of Antioch,” he added.
According to Mercury News, Mr. Wenger and former Antioch Officer Daniel Harris were also charged with possession of and conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids, and former Antioch Officer Timothy Manly Williams was charged with obstruction for allegedly interfering with a still-ongoing homicide and attempted murder investigation.
Mr. Amiri as well as former Antioch Community Service Officer Samantha Peterson and former Pittsburg officers Patrick Berhan, Brauli Rodriguez Jalapa, Ernesto Juan Mejia-Orozco, and Amanda Theodosy-Nash were all charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud for cheating in college courses, according to Mercury News.
Allegedly, the officers claimed they had earned college credits toward degrees when they had actually hired people to attend classes and take exams for them, The New York Times reported. The police departments reimbursed tuition costs and awarded salary raises to officers who earned college degrees, Mr. Ramsey told The New York Times.
The wire fraud and falsification of evidence charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, while the deprivation of rights counts carry a maximum sentence of 10 years, Mercury News reported.
“Police officers promise to enforce laws for the protection of the public and to protect the rights of the accused. That is the job,” Mr. Ramsey told Washington Post. “The indictments describe officers who are alleged to have violated this oath. When this happens, the damage done to the public trust cannot easily be calculated.”
Antioch Police Chief Joe Vigil said in a statement: “It’s disheartening and 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.”
He added, “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.”
Michael Rains, an attorney for Mr. Amiri, called the raid “completely unnecessary,” NBC Bay Area reported. He added that FBI agents used a flashbang and bullhorns during his client’s forcible arrest and that Mr. Amiri would have surrendered if asked to.
Mr. Rains said he’s yet to receive the district attorney’s evidence to support the charges, and therefore could not respond to them, the Chronicle reported. Additionally, he criticized the FBI for what he thought was an unnecessarily aggressive raid on Mr. Amiri’s home on the morning of Aug. 17, according to the Chronicle.
He said the officers are currently being held in a federal detention center in Oakland, according to NBC Bay Area.
“Any breach of the public’s trust is absolutely unacceptable,” FBI special agent in charge Robert Tripp said at a news conference according to Washington Post. “The actions today make clear that nobody’s above the law.”
Mayor Thorpe urged for the area to “come together as one” following the arrests, Washington Post reported.
“Today’s actions are the beginning of the end of a long and arduous process,” he said according to Washington Post.
