OAKLAND — Former Antioch police officer Devon Wenger has long maintained his innocence, even after the FBI arrested him in a series of raids against cops accused of corruption and violence.
But through it all, Wenger did find one person he believes was the victim of a conspiracy to violate civil rights: himself.
In a thus-far failed bid to prove his innocence, Wenger’s defense team has aired out even more dirty laundry from a police department already sullied by allegations of widespread misconduct, racism and an alleged conspiracy by three cops — Wenger included — to assault people while on duty.
“This will get the case dismissed,” Wenger predicted in one email to his former lawyer detailing how he provided information to the Antioch Police Department’s internal affairs unit about alleged misdeeds by a police lieutenant in 2021.
Unfortunately for Wenger, the judge didn’t see it that way.
In a 24-page order, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White denied all of Wenger’s legal claims. Wenger is accused of conspiring with ex-officers Morteza Amiri and Eric Rombough to violently violate the civil rights of civilians, mainly through use of a less-lethal projectile gun and Amiri’s police dog. The alleged conspiracy was detailed in text messages between the three men, according to prosecutors. Wenger also faces a steroid distribution case alongside a former Antioch policeman named Daniel Harris.
Wenger argued the case was “retaliation” after he exposed ex-Antioch police Lt. Robert Powell Meads for using a privileged law enforcement database to look up a woman that Wenger and Meads both had romances with. He also contends that Contra Costa District Attorney Inspector Larry Wallace joined in the efforts to unfairly target him. In rejecting the defense motion, White called that argument “nonsensical.”
“Meads is not an FBI agent, and Wenger sets forth no logical reason why Meads’ purported grudge against Wenger would lead to an investigation by the FBI (or even the Contra Costa County District Attorney) into Wenger,” White wrote in the Jan. 3 order. “Indeed, the federal warrants suggest that Wenger was not an initial or even second-round target of the probe.”
Adding to Wenger’s woes, Rombough is set to plead guilty to at least one federal offense on Tuesday afternoon, and may be required to admit a conspiracy existed. In all, 14 current of former Antioch and Pittsburg officers were hit with federal and state charges in August 2023.
White’s ruling clears the way for Amiri and Wenger’s trial, now tentatively scheduled for March.
Since 2023, Wenger has written emails to lawyers — some with “my Mom” copied on them — detailing his side of the story. In them, he makes sweeping declarations, frequently types in all-caps and names the “TRUE BAD ACTORS.” The ever-growing list of people who he claims have been actively working against him now includes current and former Antioch police administrators, a former colleague who was also charged with crimes, three FBI special agents, the Contra Costa District Attorney, and, most recently, his former lawyers, for, “not having my best interests at heart.”
Emails and texts to his lawyers were made public as exhibits in Wenger’s failed bid to dismiss the case.
“I’m not crazy,” Wenger assured his then-attorney in one text. “I was targeted. This is retaliation.”
One document details how, in Wenger’s words, three investigative agencies — the FBI, District Attorney and Antioch police — worked to “fabricate, omit, and misrepresent evidence to deprive me of my civil liberties.” He says it all started when Meads pulled him into his office for a frank talk about sex.
The 2021 conversation occurred when Wenger was dating a woman that Meads had previously cheated on his wife with, according to Wenger’s emails in the court file. Wenger claims Meads spoke “in explicit details” about how a video of Wenger’s then-girlfriend performing oral sex on Meads had been leaked onto Snapchat, and that Rombough told Meads’ wife, a head dispatcher at the police department, about the whole thing.
Wenger’s then-girlfriend reported the incident to internal affairs, claiming she’d been “stalked and harassed” by Meads’ wife, Wenger wrote. Just before it was time for him to talk to internal affairs, Wenger says a former Antioch police captain — who later became acting chief — tried to rattle him.
“Prior to the interview, I am told by Captain Anthony Morefield not to ‘talk, or else.’ I spoke out anyway,” Wenger wrote. “I spoke out against Lt. Robert Powell Meads and (his wife) abusing the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System to harass and stalk individuals. I spoke out against Rombough’s racist comments and unjustified use of force.”
Meads was later charged with a misdemeanor for illegally searching the woman in the police database. He was allowed to plead no contest to an infraction, fined $1,000 and got the case expunged from his record, according to court records.
In another email, Wenger referred to ex-Antioch and Pittsburg Officer Timothy Manly-Williams as an “FBI informant” who was suspected of dealing drugs from people he arrested and ultimately dished on many other alleged crimes by police officers.
Manly-Williams was charged in a separate case with warning an Oakland gang member about an ongoing murder investigation, and destroying an onlooker’s cellphone during an arrest. In state court, he pleaded no contest to a scheme involving tequila bottle bribes to quash traffic tickets, but the federal case remains pending. His attorney declined to comment on Wenger’s allegations.
Wenger also complains about being named in sweeping reports that exposed racist text communications between officers. The report details Amiri, Rombough and former Sgt. Joshua Evans, using racial slurs and joking about Black people being hurt. Wenger says in one email he was offended to have been looped in with the others.
“The only thing I stated in the report was that I did not like body cams,” Wenger wrote.
Prosecutors contend that the reason Wenger didn’t like body cameras was that the three then-officers were actively plotting to hurt people. A night before he and Amiri injured someone, Wenger allegedly sent a text that read, “we need to get into something tonight bro!! Lets go 3 nights in a row dog bite,” according to the indictment.
Wenger resigned in 2023, writing to then-Chief Steven Ford that, “I have continuously been the victim of this department’s sexual harassment, unfair treatment, retaliation, work place bullying and exploitation.” The city of Antioch ignored a California Public Records Act request this news organization sent seeking Wenger’s resignation letter but it was included in the court exhibits.
Finally, in August 2024, Wenger wrote his then-attorney Candice Fields saying that he’d lost faith in her and her law partner’s ability to represent him. Chief among his complaints was that they didn’t seem to be taking Wenger’s theory of a conspiracy against him seriously enough.
“I hope in the future you are able to see that I am, in fact, innocent of all the allegations and how much my rights were violated,” Wenger wrote. “It has definitely felt like you have a bias against me in general because I was falsely indicted or for whatever reason.”