Nine current and former police officers in the East Bay face federal charges after a raid Thursday by the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
The FBI's roundup of officers from the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments come after an 18-month investigation into an alleged criminal network.
"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. As our city absorbs this tragic news, we must come together as one," Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe said in a statement. "Today's actions are the beginning of the end of a long and arduous process. 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. 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."
In total, nine suspects were arrested in the raid and as a result of four different indictments.
At least seven defendants appeared in court Thursday for their arraignments. The charges are wide ranging, including conspiring to distribute narcotics, altering and falsifying records of a federal investigation, wire fraud where officers allegedly defrauded money from the police department, civil rights violations and obstruction of justice.
"The color of law violations strike at the very heart of our justice system," said Robert Tripp, a special agent in charge with the FBI's San Francisco field office. "They undermine public confidence in the law and law enforcement and erode the fundamental rights of our citizens."
Here's a list of the current and former officers who appeared in court:
- Morteza Amiri, Antioch police officer
- Patrick Berhan, former police officer
- Ernesto Mejia-Orozco, former Pittsburg police officer
- Samantha Peterson, former Antioch community services officer
- Brauli Rodriguez-Jalapa, Pittsburg police officer
- Eric Rombough, Antioch police officer
- Timothy Williams, former Antioch and Pittsburg police officer
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Michael Rains, an attorney representing one of the officers arrested, said the raid was "completely unnecessary."
Rains said 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 officers are being held in a federal detention center in Oakland, according to Rains.
In the course of the FBI investigation over the past year and a half, feds seized the officers' cellphones and stumbled upon racist and homophobic texts between dozens of Antioch cops. A judge is now trying to decide if those texts violated the state's Racial Justice Act.
The texts also described recently retired Police Chief Steven Ford in racially derogatory terms. They also contained homophobic slurs and suggested violence against unhoused people.
Some of the defendants named in the texts, including those convicted and accused of murder, have already had their cases overturned in court or are challenging their arrests as racially motivated and violations of the California Racial Justice Act.
Civil rights attorneys John Burris and Ben Nisenbaum have filed two lawsuits so far involving 13 plaintiffs accusing Antioch police of civil rights violations, among other allegations. The lawyers have said they've interviewed another "140 people who claim they also have been subject of multiple constitutional violations by Antioch police officers for years," they said in a statement earlier this month.
As many as 45 of Antioch's approximately 100 officers were placed on leave because of the texts.
The Antioch Police Officers Association released the following statement on Thursday:
"The APOA has learned that several of our current and former members have been indicted by the FBI at the culmination of their investigation into members of the Antioch and Pittsburg Police Departments. We are saddened to learn of what has happened and look forward to the legal process playing itself out. We are committed to still providing quality service to the citizens of Antioch and also providing support for our members who are still working through this difficult time."
Bay City News contributed to this report.
