CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, Calif. — A federal jury has convicted former Antioch police officer Morteza Amiri of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a scheme to obtain pay raises by using a university degree he paid someone else to acquire.
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, Ismail J. Ramsey, and FBI San Francisco Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp announced the conviction on Friday afternoon.
The verdict, reached after a four-day trial, marks Amiri as the sixth former officer from Antioch or Pittsburg to be convicted in this wire fraud conspiracy, joining the ranks of Patrick Berhan, Amanda Theodosy (Nash), Samantha Peterson, Ernesto Mejia-Orozco, and Brauli Rodriguez Jalapa.
“We expect integrity and honesty from every police officer, every day, in the police departments across this country,” Ramsey stated. “Amiri failed to uphold these basic responsibilities, and a federal jury has convicted him of defrauding his employer, the Antioch Police Department. He, along with the other officers he conspired with, now face the consequences of violating the rule of law that they swore to uphold.”
These wire fraud cases are part of broader investigations by both federal authorities and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office into police brutality and racist text messaging involving several Antioch police officers.
At least 10 officers from Antioch and Pittsburg were indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on various charges, including improper use of weapons, civil rights violations, falsifying records, wire fraud, and obstruction of justice. Some officers were found to have been involved in racist and threatening text message chains targeting Black suspects and officials.
The Antioch and Pittsburg police departments had previously offered reimbursements for higher education tuition and financial incentives upon degree completion. However, Amiri, 33, and his co-conspirators reportedly hired individuals to complete entire courses on their behalf at an online university to secure a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. This fraudulent activity allowed the officers to receive extra pay calculated as a percentage of their salaries.
Prosecutors noted that evidence included text messages from Amiri to the person who completed his classes, expressing intentions to keep the arrangement secret and coordinate his degree request to facilitate a timely pay raise.
Amiri is scheduled to be sentenced on November 12, with each count carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The court may also impose fines, restitution, and supervision upon release as part of the sentence.
Additionally, Amiri is set for trial in February on charges related to conspiracy against rights, deprivation of rights under color of law, and falsification of records in federal investigations.