Antioch Police Officer Indicted Twice on the Same Day: For Wire Fraud and Excessive Force
Mortez Amiri is accused of excessive force violations, including having his K9 unnecessarily bite suspects and joking about it with other officers. Photo by Antioch Police Department.
Morteza Amiri, 33, a former police officer for the Antioch Police Department in California, has been indicted on excessive force charges, according to a DOJ press release.
In the indictment, Amiri and two other officers, Eric Rombough and Devon Wenger, were charged with nine counts of Civil Rights violations, including conspiracy against rights, deprivation of rights under color of law, and destruction/falsification of records in federal investigations, as detailed on the charges chart.
Accusations of Conspiracy and Civil Rights Violations
Amiri, who started working with the Antioch PD in November. 2017, became partners with a police service dog named Purcy in the Canine Unit, according to the indictment. Despite over a hundred hours of K9 training on policies, appropriate deployment times, and other legal standards, Amiri allegedly “deployed K9 Purcy to bite at least 28 subjects in and around Antioch” between March 2019 and November 2021.
Amiri, Rombough, and Wenger allegedly maintained a text chain where they exchanged messages with one another about incidents where they used excessive force. Amiri allegedly captured photos and videos of the aftermath of Purcy’s bites during his deployments, the indictment stated. While Antioch PD requires official documentation when force is used, Amiri took extra photos for personal use, saying, “I’m gonna take more gory pics. gory pics are for personal stuff. cleaned up pics for the case 😂.”
Amiri, Rombough, and Wenger allegedly texted at length about “getting dog bites” for Amiri and even working during days off so they could participate, according to the indictment.
In one incident, Amiri allegedly pulled over a biker riding without his lights on at night. During the stop, Amiri allegedly punched the biker several times and deployed K9 Purcy onto him, injuring his arm, the indictment alleges.
Amiri was removed from the Canine Unit, and K9 Purcy was temporarily suspended in early 2022, according to the indictment.
Allegations of Cheating and Fraud
This saga is ongoing, but the trial for the second indictment on Aug. 16, 2023, is already concluding.
Amiri was convicted by a federal jury on August 9 of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to a DOJ press release.
Amiri was the last of six officers: Brauli Rodriguez Jalapa, Patrick Berhan, Ernesto Mejia-Orozco, Samantha Peterson, and Amanda Theodosy, a/k/a Nash, to be convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as was previously covered by The Daily Muck.
During the four-day trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Amiri and his co-conspirators took advantage of the Antioch Police Department’s higher education tuition, expense reimbursements, and pay raise opportunities by paying a third party to complete the course on their behalf, according to the press release.
Amiri paid someone via Venmo to take the classes, write and submit essays, and even take exams for him to complete his degree, according to a second indictment filed on Aug. 16, 2023.
Sentencing for Amiri’s wire fraud case is set for Nov. 12. Each count of the two-count conviction carries a maximum of 20 years.
Amiri has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the excessive force case, and the case is scheduled to go to trial in February 2025, according to the DOJ press release discussing his more recent conviction.
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