ANTIOCH — A former Antioch police officer whose criminal conspiracy trial recently came to an abrupt and inconsequential end is suing his former department alleging retaliation by higher-ups.
Devon Wenger filed a lawsuit in Contra Costa Superior Court against the Antioch Police Department, alleging retaliation and harassment by higher ups, resulting in “emotional distress” and even the pending criminal cases against him. The suit was filed on Feb. 28, just three days before Wenger went to trial facing charges of conspiracy and deprivation of civil rights, and just four days before a judge declared a mistrial.
The lawsuit centers on issues Wenger has raised in criminal court, where he faces charges in one case of illegally shooting a man with a less-lethal projectile, and another case alleging he distributed illegal steroids. Wenger has long maintained both cases are the result of retaliation after he spoke up against people within the scandal-ridden department.
“The fact that (Wenger) was dragged into this joint investigation is retaliation for, ironically, daring to speak up about illegal discrimination and harassment at the APD,” the suit says.
The city of Antioch, which generally doesn’t comment on pending litigation, didn’t respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Wenger was one of nine ex-East Contra Costa cops charged in a series of 2023 indictments and is the only one who has escaped a conviction thus far. He resigned two months before being charged.
Wenger was set to go on trial alongside ex-K9 Officer Morteza Amiri, but just two days in U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White declared a mistrial after a lengthy sealed court hearing. A subsequent order by White says Wenger’s lawyer, Nicole Lopes, moved for a mistrial “based upon her inability to provide effective representation to Mr. Wenger,” and White has since indicated he may soon unseal the transcript from the hearing.
The suit centers on a dispute between Wenger and former Antioch police Lt. Robert Meads, who lost his job after he was charged with using a private law enforcement database to research Wenger’s former girlfriend. It alleges that Meads described to Wenger in lewd detail how he’d had an affair with Wenger’s fiancée, ostensibly to “clear the air” and illegally researched the woman in a police database. Around the same time, an Antioch squad car was seen at the home of Wenger’s parents, who do not live in Antioch, the lawsuit alleges.
Meads, who pleaded no contest to an infraction, now works for the Pinole Police Department.
When called to testify in the internal affairs probe over Meads’ alleged misdeed, the suit says that Wenger was warned by a now-retired captain — who later became acting police chief — not to talk — “or else.” The captain, Anthony Morefield, retired last week.
The suit alleges that the police department used a routine internal affairs probe involving Wenger — after he shot a transgender woman, Dajon Smith, with a less-lethal round during an arrest — as an excuse to retaliate against him. That incident ultimately resulted in criminal charges, alleging Wenger shot Smith as part of a conspiracy with Amiri and ex-Officer Eric Rombough to “oppress” the people of Antioch.
Ironically, if Wenger’s case hadn’t ended abruptly, it appears that there is a good chance he would have at least been partially acquitted. Jurors who heard evidence against Amiri rejected the prosecution’s theory that he conspired with other officers and that he’d illegally used his dog on another person. On Friday, the jury convicted Amiri of one civil rights deprivation charge and another count of falsifying reports, and Amiri faces a potential federal prison sentence.
Rombough pleaded no contest to conspiracy and civil rights violations and testified against Amiri. Another ex-officer, Daniel Harris, has pleaded guilty to steroids distribution and is expected to testify against Wenger in the steroids case.
In announcing the lawsuit, Lopes issued a news release stating that “justice ultimately prevailed.” But a second trial may happen; prosecutors have been ordered to formally decide by Thursday whether they will attempt to re-try Wenger on either of the two charges. He also faces a steroids distribution case set for trial in late April.
During Wenger’s two days of trial, he spoke briefly with reporters, reiterating his innocence and expressing plans to return to the military — he was working to become a Green Beret — after he proves it in court. He repeated an argument made by Amiri’s lawyer that offensive texts between officers where they discuss violence against people and joke about suspects’ injuries, were part of the police culture in Antioch, but added there’s a lot more to who he is as a person.
“I just want to help people,” he said.