OAKLAND — A former Antioch community services officer avoided jail time for involving herself in a college degree scam that got her $3,000 in ill-gotten city pay and reimbursements, but also led to a felony conviction and the loss of her livelihood.
Before she was sentenced on Tuesday, Samantha Peterson stood up in court before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, and read an apology to everyone — the community she said she was once proud to serve, her former department and her family.
“I have let you all down and I’m sorry,” Peterson said, her voice shaking at times. She added, “This was out of character behavior to me…I have lost everything, my home, career, reputation and purpose and rightfully so.”
Peterson was sentenced to three years of supervised release, to perform 100 hours of community service — which the judge said he hopes will include speaking at schools about the dangers of giving in to temptation — and restitution of the pay and reimbursements she fraudulently received.
White told Peterson he was deviating from his standard for cases involving public corruption or police misconduct by not sentencing Peterson to jail, but explained that, “you’re probably the last person that I can think of who would commit another crime.”
“But there is an element of general deterrence…if you’re a police officer, you have a higher duty,” White said, perhaps a harbinger of what is to come for Peterson’s former peers who may come before him next to be sentenced.
Peterson was one of 14 Antioch and Pittsburg officers to be charged as part of a massive criminal organization. She was also the first of those who face federal charges to plead guilty, admitting that she paid the girlfriend of former Pittsburg Officer Patrick Berhan to take online college courses for her, to obtain education incentive pay offered by the city.
“She offered her services, I didn’t think twice and accepted,” Peterson said in response to a question from White. “I absolutely understand that it was completely wrong, yes.”
Berhan has already accepted a plea deal. Another of the officers, Timothy Manly Williams — who worked at both departments — pleaded guilty to a scheme to accept tequila bribes for quashing traffic tickets. The remaining officers’ charges are still pending, including three former Antioch cops charged with civil rights violations.
Prosecutors had asked for a three-month house arrest term for Peterson, citing the “breach of public trust” and the need to send a message to anyone else in law enforcement who thinks the rules don’t apply to them. Peterson’s lawyer, Ellen Leonida, said Peterson will carry the guilt and shame of her conviction forever, and led a righteous life before and after the crime.
“She doesn’t drink, she doesn’t smoke, I’ve never heard her swear,” Leonida said.
The “tragedy” of the situation was not lost on White, who said he was saddened to have to take her guilty plea and pronounce a sentence.
“I suspect that you got caught up in a culture of corruption that existed in this police department and the other one,” White said, referencing Antioch and then Pittsburg. He later added, “I know you’ve learned your lesson. I hope you can recover from this and I think you can. You’re a strong person.”