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.
In an apparent attempt to repay the city of Pittsburg, Berhan wrote a $25,000 check, according to documents obtained by this news organization. He returned the money around the time of his resignation, city officials said.
Two former East Contra Costa law enforcement officials have already accepted plea deals in the sprawling corruption case.
Samantha Genoveva Peterson, a former Antioch community services officer, has pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge related to the college degree case. Timothy Manly Williams, a cop who had worked for Pittsburg and Antioch, admitted to accepting tequila as a bribe for making traffic tickets go away, but he remains federally accused of interfering with a police wiretap investigation.
Three former Antioch cops — Morteza Amiri, Eric Rombough and Devon Wenger — are accused of 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.
Wenger and another former Antioch officer, 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.