First East Bay officer roped into massive scandal pleads no contest
ANTIOCH, Calif. (KRON) — A former Antioch police officer pleaded no contest in court on Thursday after he was accused of interfering with a bombshell criminal investigation into dozens of East Bay police officers.
Ex-Antioch Police Department officer Timothy Manly-Williams pleaded no contest to one felony count of conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public, and one misdemeanor count of altering evidence, District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Ted Asregadoo told KRON4.
The judge said the maximum sentence Manly-Williams will face is three years, four months in prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 19 in Contra Costa County Superior Court.
Manly-Williams was employed as a police officer in Pittsburg before he was hired by Antioch in 2019, according to APD’s Facebook page.
This week, he became the first officer convicted in a massive East Bay law enforcement scandal.
The District Attorney’s Office charged five police officers who were employed by the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments: Manly-Williams, Calvin Prieto, Andrea Rodriguez, Ben Padilla, and Juan Ernesto Mejia-Orozco.
FBI agents arrest 10 Antioch and Pittsburg police officers
The DA’s investigation into the five officers was conducted alongside an even larger FBI investigation into 10 officers. The probes began in early 2022 and focused on officers who cheated on college tests to obtain salary raises, investigators said. After FBI agents dug into the college cheating scandal, they opened a “Pandora’s Box” of unethical and criminal behavior by several officers, a source told KRON4.
The scandal exploded when investigators revealed some officers collected trophies from shooting scenes, exchanged racist text messages, bragged about deploying K-9 units to attack suspects, and intentionally left their body-worn cameras off.
Manly-Williams also faces a federal criminal indictment. This summer, a federal grand jury charged Manly-Williams with destruction of evidence, obstruction, falsification of records, and deprivation of rights under color of law.
According to the indictment, Manly-Williams was at a crime scene on May 6, 2021 when a K-9 unit officer deployed a police dog to make an arrest. Manly-Williams spotted a witness who used a cellphone to record video. Manly-Williams seized the witness’ phone and destroyed it, the indictment states.
In a separate incident, he is accused of tipping off the target of a wiretap during a murder investigation.
Antioch police officers covered up their dirty tracks for years, federal investigators said. FBI agents later found evidence against them inside the officers’ private cellphones, according to the FBI.
More racist Antioch police text messages released by District Attorney
According to court documents released by the District Attorney’s Office, a total of 17 Antioch and Pittsburg police officers were investigated for potentially criminal conduct:
Sergeant Josh Evans
Sergeant Rick Hoffman
Officer Eric Rombough
Detective Robert Gerber
Officer Jonathan Adams
Officer Morteza Amiri
Officer Scott Duggar
Officer Tom Smith
Officer Brock Marcotte
Officer Timothy Manly-Williams
Officer Aaron Hughes
Officer Brayton Milner
Officer Calvin Prieto
Officer John Ramirez
Officer Andrea Rodriguez
Officer Kyle Smith
Officer Devon Wenger
Federal charges were filed against 10 of the officers, and state charges were filed against five of the officers. Asregadoo said the state charges center on “felony offenses of conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public and bribery.”
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