OAKLAND — Eric Rombough, the former Antioch officer whose words and actions were at the forefront of a massive law enforcement corruption scandal involving more than a dozen cops, has pleaded guilty.
In an agreement with federal prosecutors, Rombough admitted to conspiring with several other Antioch officers to “injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate” the people of the city they were supposed to serve. Before a federal judge Tuesday afternoon, Rombough formally pleaded guilty to three charges — conspiracy against rights, and two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law.
“I’m here to accept responsibility for what I’ve done and what I’ve been charged with,” Rombough said in court.
Rombough was one of 14 ex-East Contra Costa cops charged in a federal and state investigation. Multiple indictments in federal and Contra Costa courts accused various officers crimes ranging from illegal violence, to bribery, fraudulently obtaining incentive pay, possessing illegal firearms, steroid distribution, and interfering with a wiretap of a violent Oakland gang.
A proffer by the government, which Rombough agreed was accurate, says that he conspired with two colleagues, ex-officers Devon Wenger and Morteza Amiri but also with “other APD officers” to deprive Antioch residents of their rights. The conspiracy involved pre-planning violence, falsifying police reports, and simply failing to report uses of force, the proffer says.
Amiri and Wenger have pleaded not guilty and are set to go to trial in late March, court records show. The judge who took Rombough’s guilty plea, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, recently denied attempts by Wenger to dismiss the case on the basis that Wenger was being retaliated against for turning in another officer who used a private police database to search an ex-girlfriend Wenger was dating.
The plea agreement includes a provision that Rombough could receive a lesser sentence by cooperating with federal prosecutors. Rather than set a sentencing state, the court has scheduled a status conference for after Rombough’s two co-defendants are set to go to trial.
Rombough was at the forefront of two related scandals that have cast a shadow over the Antioch police department since FBI raids targeted several East Contra Costa cops in early 2022.
Out of 14 ex-Antioch and Pittsburg officers charged last year, he was one of four accused of crimes involving force or violence. He was also frequently mentioned in lengthy reports on Antioch officers who exchanged racist, sexist, and homophobic communications, including one where he referred to the former police chief, who is Black, as a “gorilla.”
The conspiracy included incidents where officers planned to hurt someone in advance. Rombough sent texts that said things like, “I’ll 40 a few this week,” the less-lethal 40 mm projectile, prosecutors said in court. When Wenger broke a “young female subject’s” arm, he justified it by telling other co-conspirators that the “(expletive) wouldn’t do what I said,” the proffer states.
Amiri relayed that his wife would bake cookies for officers who hurt people, and referred to dog bites by his K9 partner as “the real punishment,” contrasted by Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton’s policies, prosecutors said. He was proud his dog bit the most people of any police K9 unit in town, the proffer says.
Prosecutors also specifically referenced incidents where Rombough shot someone with the less lethal gun, including a 2021 incident that was found to be within policy by Antioch administrators at the time. In one instance, Rombough falsely claimed a homeless man was reaching for a bottle, and in another, failed to report kicking a man in the head, despite comparing it to kicking a field goal in a text to colleagues, prosecutors said.
The government’s proffer also says Rombough collected trophies from his violence, labeling and collecting less-lethal rubber rounds from a projectile to stand in as stars on an American flag model above a mantle in his Solano County home.
Before the hearing’s end, White asked Rombough to explain, in his own words, what he did wrong.
“Operating as a police officer, I used my authority to injure and intimidate people under the color of authority,” Rombough replied.