By Steve Neavling
The FBI arrested 10 current and former California police officers on Thursday on charges that they fabricated reports to cover up excessive force and committed civil rights violations and fraud in a scheme to get a pay raise.
The charges, outlined in four indictments by Ismail J. Ramsey, U.S. attorney for the Norther District of California, include wire fraud, deprivation of rights under color of law, conspiracy against rights, and conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids, The New York Times reports.
The officers worked for police departments in Antioch and Pittsburgh near San Francisco. Three of them remain employed by the departments.
The maximum penalties for the charges range from 10 to 20 years in prison and $250,000 fines.
“This will go down in history as one of the darkest moments in this city,” Antioch Mayor Lamar A. Thorpe said.
Federal prosecutors said the departments were out of control, with officers destroying records and refusing to wear body cameras.
In a separate scandal involving Antioch officers, text messages obtained during the investigation revealed that at least 45 officers used racist, homophobic, and sexist comments and made threats against Thorpe.
“We need to fix the culture that supported this,” Michael Gennaco, a law enforcement reform and accountability expert, said.
