Prosecutors bring ticket-fixing charges against East Bay cops
FBI arrests Antioch, Pittsburg cops in civil rights probe; indictment details announced
The U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco and the FBI held a joint news conference Thursday afternoon, where they announced the arrest of Antioch and Pittsburg police officers for civil rights violations. Federal officials detailed four separate indictments involving several officers from both departments.
ANTIOCH, Calif. - Five Antioch and Pittsburg police officers have been charged with obstruction of justice and bribery for fixing traffic tickets for friends, Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton said Friday.
"The charges set forth in these complaints allege offenses of public corruption," Becton said in a statement.
The charges against Timothy Manly Williams, Calvin Prieto, Andrea Rodriguez and Ben Padilla, all of the Antioch Police Department, and Juan Ernesto Mejia-Orozco of the Pittsburg Police Department arose from forensic analysis of their mobile phones, prosecutors said.
In March 2022, state and federal investigators obtained search warrants for the cell phones of a number of officers. A large trove of overtly racist, sexist, and homophobic text messages was uncovered, prosecutors said.
Timothy Manly-Williams also faces a federal criminal indictment for civil rights violations and other charges announced Thursday.