FBI Reveals Antioch Police Officers Collected ‘Trophies’ from Crime Scenes

U.S — In a coordinated operation that took place across multiple states on Thursday, the FBI made simultaneous arrests of ten current and former police officers from the cities of Antioch and Pittsburg. After an investigation into East Bay law enforcement that lasted approximately eighteen months, a federal grand jury decided to bring four charges against those involved. It is alleged that the policemen were involved in a wide variety of illegal activities, including conspiracies, coverups, and other illegal activities.

According to an indictment from a grand jury that was released following an FBI raid, officers from the Antioch Police Department allegedly gathered “trophies” from crime scenes and placed the keepsakes on a mantle. Eric Rombough, Morteza Amiri, and Devon Christopher Wenger, all of whom work for the Antioch Police Department, have been charged with “a disturbing litany of civil rights violations,” as stated by the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California, Ismail Ramsey.

The defendants made boasts about their unlawful use of force,” the prosecutor said. Ramsey stated that the cops showed little interest in de-escalating the situation in order to prevent further violence. According to him, law enforcement officers gathered “mementos… from their attacks on the people of Antioch.

The three policemen covered up their ruthless tactics by fabricating police records and avoiding using body-worn cameras in order to hide the excessive force that they used against civilians. According to the findings of the investigation, a fourth officer named Timothy Manly Williams snatched the person’s cellphone after they took a cellphone video of a K-9 bite in the year 2021. He then deleted the recording.

For years, Antioch police officers hid their shady pasts and concealed their tracks. However, according to the FBI, agents discovered a substantial amount of evidence against them within the officers’ personal cellphones. According to the court filings, the personal telephones in question contained text messages that were homophobic, racist, and unethical.

According to the indictment, Rombough, a member of the APD’s SWAT squad, shot suspects with less-lethal 40mm ammunition excessively and collected used munitions for “the mantle.” “After each deployment, Rombough would return to his base and collect the used 40mm projectiles, but instead of disposing of or processing them, he would keep them for himself. “To commemorate his 40mm deployments, (he created) a trophy flag… in which the munitions were used among the stars and stripes,” the indictment adds. “(He created) a trophy flag.”