25 Jun Former Antioch Officer Gets 7 Years in Federal Prison for Abuse of Power, Lying, Fraud

(Image courtesy of the Department of Justice via Bay City News)

By Katy St. Clair
Bay City News

A former Antioch police officer who was part of a wider scandal involving the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments was given 7 years in federal prison Tuesday for abusing his power, lying, and fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Morteza Amiri, 33, was sentenced to 84 months in prison for violating the civil rights of a person through excessive force, falsifying records related to that violation, and taking part in a scheme to get pay raises from the Antioch Police Department for obtaining a university degree that he paid someone else to get.

During trial it was proven that Amiri did things like sic his K-9 on people “when it wasn’t necessary,” prosecutors said.

Prosecutors showed that Amiri once approached someone in July 2024 for allegedly not having a light on their bicycle, punched them, took them to the ground, then ordered his K-9 to bite them. Afterwards, Amiri shared pictures of the victim’s wounds with other Antioch police officers and joked about it, writing in one text message that “gory pics are for personal stuff” and “cleaned up pics for the case.”

Amiri then lied about the incident, saying he deployed the K-9 because he was alone, when in fact there was another officer with him.

In addition to being violent, Amiri and other co-conspirators paid people to take college courses for them so that they could get a boost in their pay, prosecutors said.

A jury found Amiri guilty of the college course scheme last August and another jury in March found him guilty of deprivation of rights under color of law and falsification of records. He was facing up to 30 years in prison.

The 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 the two police departments for crimes ranging from the use of excessive force to fraud.

In January, the DOJ announced an agreement with the city of Antioch and its police department, resolving its investigation into racism and other discrimination by officers.

Federal officials said the settlement will end a long investigation into dozens of discriminatory text messages circulating among Antioch police officers between September 2019 and January 2022.

The text messages were part of a bigger scandal involving Antioch and Pittsburg police officers indicted by federal prosecutors on charges alleging improper use of weapons and a police dog on suspects, civil rights violations, falsifying records, wire fraud, obstruction of justice, turning off body cameras, selling steroids, and paying individuals to take college classes for officers.

United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian praised Amiri’s sentencing.

“Amiri misused his police dog to inflict unnecessary and excessive force against a victim and cheated his way into a pay raise,” said Missakian. “These crimes are appalling in themselves, but even more so that they were committed by a police officer. With this sentence, Amiri is now being held to account for his multiple betrayals of the public trust.”

In addition to the federal prison term, Amiri was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,180 to the bicyclist and $10,526 to the city of Antioch.

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