A former San Francisco Bay Area police officer accused of paying someone to take their college courses as a way to get a pay raise was found guilty by a federal jury in Oakland, California, on Aug. 9.
Ex-Antioch officer Morteza Amiri, 33, is the sixth and final police officer to be convicted of one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one felony count of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oakland.
Amiri was involved in a scheme to get pay raises from the Antioch Police Department, federal prosecutors said in the four-day trial before U.S. Senior District Judge Jeffrey White.
The other officers were Patrick Berhan, Amanda Theodosy, Samantha Peterson, Ernesto Mejia-Orozco, and Brauli Rodriguez Jalapa. All five pleaded guilty.
Like Amiri, Peterson was an Antioch officer. The others were with the Pittsburg Police Department. Both cities are about an hour’s drive east of downtown San Francisco.
The former officer was accused of hiring someone to complete college courses for him at an online university to obtain a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, according to prosecutors.
At the time of the crime, Antioch and Pittsburg offered higher education expenses, tuition reimbursements, pay raises, and other financial incentives for completing a college degree.
Instead of completing the college coursework on their own, Amiri and the other convicted officers hired someone to complete the courses on their behalf.
The officers then asked for reimbursements and financial incentives from their departments and said they had taken the courses and earned the degrees themselves.
Amiri was given a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and was compensated for the degree, according to the prosecutors. He will be sentenced on Nov. 12.
Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The court may also order a fine, restitution, and supervision upon prison release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
