Feds hit ex-Pittsburg cop with new felony charge in massive police scandal
OAKLAND — Federal prosecutors have tacked on a new charge against a former Pittsburg officer who is already accused of wire fraud, and they say there’s a universal plea deal in the works to resolve both cases.
Patrick Berhan was charged Wednesday with possessing anabolic steroids with intent to distribute them in May 2021, a felony that carries up to 10 years in federal prison and a $500,000 maximum fine. Berhan was among 14 current and former East Contra Costa cops charged with various federal and state offenses last year.
In a court filing notifying a judge of the new case, federal prosecutors wrote that they and Berhan’s lawyer “have reached a proposed resolution that contemplates a single plea agreement addressing both matters,” but did not set a court date for Berhan to enter a guilty plea. Details of the plea agreement have not been made public.
Last August, Berhan was charged with conspiring with other law enforcement officials to scam the cities of Antioch and Pittsburg out of incentive pay offered to cops who get college degrees. Prosecutors alleged that the officers paid a woman to take online classes for them, and therefore received degrees — and corresponding pay bumps — that they didn’t earn.
The investigation started when the woman — a former significant other of one of the officers — came forward to police and exposed the alleged scam, according to multiple law enforcement sources. The FBI and Contra Costa District Attorney got involved, eventually seizing several officers’ phones. The investigation ballooned from there.
Thus far, two former law enforcement officials have accepted plea deals — one admitting to the fraud scheme, and another admitting to accepting tequila as a bribe for making traffic tickets go away — while charges remain pending for the other 12. Three former Antioch cops face charges that they committed violent civil rights violations on the job, by siccing a police dog on people or shooting them with a less lethal gun, in incidents that were allegedly preplanned.
Two other former Antioch officers, Devon Wenger and Daniel Harris, face charges related to alleged steroid distribution in a separate case from Berhan’s, court records show.
All the officers remain out of custody while the cases are pending, including Brauli Jalapa Rodriguez, a former Pittsburg and Oakland Housing Authority officer, who was arrested last month on suspicion of driving drunk and threatening police.