SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A former Antioch police officer, Morteza Amiri, was sentenced to serve 7 years in prison for using excessive force against suspects, falsifying police records, and participating in a scheme to obtain pay raises.
The federal prison sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. Amiri, 34, committed his crimes while working as an Antioch Police Department K9 officer.
"Amiri misused his police dog to inflict unnecessary and excessive force against a victim and cheated his way into a pay raise. These crimes are appalling in themselves, but even more so that they were committed by a police officer. Amiri is now being held to account for his multiple betrayals of the public trust,” said United States Attorney Craig Missakian.
"Today’s sentence sends a clear message: no badge is a shield from accountability. The FBI remains steadfast in its mission to protect the civil rights of all people and to hold those who abuse their power accountable under the law," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani.
Antioch Police Department Officer Morteza Amiri (Photo via APD)Prosecutors said the K9 officer frequently deployed his dog to bite suspects, even when it was not necessary. During one incident on July 24, 2019, Amiri stopped a bicyclist who did not have his bicycle light on.
Amiri approached the bicyclist, punched and took the man to the ground, and called for his K9 to bite the bicyclist. Afterwards, Amiri shared pictures of the bicyclist's bite wounds with other Antioch police officers to brag about it. One officer responded, "Yeah buddy good boy," referring to the K9, and "Lol." In response to a question from another officer about what cut the dog’s face, Amiri responded, "that’s a piece of the suspect’s flesh lol."
Following the incident, Amiri falsified a police report by claiming one of the reasons he deployed his K9 was because he was alone. In reality, a ride-along police officer was with him at the time who helped deploy the K9, prosecutors said.
Multiple ex-APD officers testified against Amiri at trial, including Eric Rombough.
Ex-Antioch police officer Eric Rombough pleads guiltyThe City of Antioch and City of Pittsburg’s police departments offered officers with reimbursements toward higher education tuition, along with pay raises and other financial incentives, if they earned a college degree.
Instead of completing coursework on their own, Amiri and co-conspirators hired someone to complete entire courses on their behalf at an online university to secure a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
In Amiri’s text messages he wrote, "Ill pay you per class. Don’t tell a soul about me hiring you for this. We can’t afford it getting leaked and me losing my job. I’m gonna rush order my degree to get my pay raise jump started."
Antioch police officers collected ‘trophies’ from crime scenes: FBIFollowing a four-day trial in August 2024, a jury found Amiri guilty of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the pay raise scheme. In March 2025, following an eight-day trial, another jury found Amiri guilty of one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, and one count of falsification of records.
The case against Amiri was the result of a sweeping investigation conducted by the FBI and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. Investigators dug into the Antioch Police Department looking for criminal and immoral behavior within its ranks.
"These charges against Amiri were brought as part of an investigation into the Antioch and Pittsburgh police departments that resulted in multiple charges against 10 current and former officers and employees of these two police departments for various crimes ranging from the use of excessive force to fraud," wrote the U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of California.
Judge White presided over all 10 cases.
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