Former Pittsburg police officer avoids jail in weapons plea

PITTSBURG, Calif. - A former police officer from Pittsburg will not go to jail following his plea deal in a weapons case.

Court records show 29-year-old Armando Montalvo was sentenced to six months probation after pleading no contest to two misdemeanor obstruction charges in March.

In exchange, prosecutors  dropped four felony charges related to the possession and sale of assault rifles.

Montalvo resigned from the Pittsburg Police Department in 2022, shortly after the investigaton began.

The East Bay Times reported that Montalvo was the first of 14 Pittsburg and Antioch police officers charged in a corruption probe by the FBI and Contra Costa District Attorney’s office. 

Prosecutors said at the time they found evidence he’d illegally possessed assault rifles and sold them to another person while investigating other officers’ phones.

The other 13 East Contra Costa officers have been charged with crimes including accepting liquor as bribes to quash traffic tickets, wire fraud, violent civil rights violations, and drug distribution.