Oakland police detective charged with perjury, bribing homicide case witness, court records say
OAKLAND — A longtime Oakland police detective has been hit with multiple felony charges including perjury, bribery and threatening a witness related to homicide cases he investigated, records filed Monday show.
Officer Phong Tran was charged with five felony counts including two counts of perjury, and bribery of a witness, attempted bribery of a witness and subornation of perjury under oath, according to court papers filed by the District Attorney’s Office. The complaint also alleges Tran “threatened witnesses” and “unlawfully prevented or dissuaded witnesses from testifying”
Kwixuan Maloof, director of the DA’s Public Accountability Bureau established by District Attorney Pamela Price, filed the charges on Monday. The crimes Tran is suspected of span from 2012 to 2016.
The DA’s office, as first reported by KTVU, also issued a no-bail arrest warrant for Tran.
As previously reported by this news organization, Tran has been under scrutiny after a murder case against two men was thrown out last month. He was placed on leave last year but recently returned to detective work with the Oakland Police Department, where he has investigated hundreds of cases including homicides as recently as February.
His current status is unclear, but OPD acknowledged the arrest warrant in a social media post Monday evening and said the department is “fully cooperating with the Alameda County DA’s office.”
But a woman’s allegations about Tran’s payments to her in a 2011 murder case have led to this week’s developments, authorities said. That woman, Aisha Weber, said Tran took advantage of her being homeless and desperate for money and offered her thousands of dollars to testify against two men in a trial that ended in their convictions for murder, with life sentences, in the fatal shooting of a man in an argument over a North Oakland parking space.
After Tran admitted in court papers to paying the woman small amounts in cash, as well as previously undisclosed amounts through other programs, defense attorneys sought to dismiss charges against the jailed men, who were quietly released from custody in 2022.
An attempt to reach an attorney for Tran was not successful Monday night. Tran must turn himself in to authorities within 48 hours, KTVU reported.
Check back for updates.
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.