"can i hire you [ ] to do my ... classes? ill pay you per class," police officer Morteza Amiri had texted. "I'm gonna rush order my degree to get my pay raise jump started."
Antioch Police Department's Amiri, 33, is the last of six police officers to be convicted in a scheme to obtain fraudulent college degrees for higher pay. His case was the only one to go to trial, which lasted for four days.
The six Antioch and Pittsburg police department officers paid someone to complete online university courses to obtain a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement released Friday. Their degrees, obtained in their names, allowed them to qualify for pay raises and financial incentives they had not yet earned.
“Amiri engaged in a calculated conspiracy to defraud his police department of taxpayer funds," FBI spokesperson Robert Tripp said. "His actions were a violation of the law and a grave betrayal of public trust."
Evidence presented at trial included texts Amiri sent to the person who took his classes for him, prosecutors said.
"don't tell a soul about me hiring you for this," Amiri wrote. "we can't afford it getting leaked and me losing my job."
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"if i submit my request for the degree on time by the end [ ] of the month i can coordinate my raise in a timely manner," another text read.
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The other officers convicted are Patrick Berhan, Amanda Theodosy, Samantha Peterson, Ernesto Mejia-Orozco and Brauli Rodriguez Jalapa. They all pleaded guilt to conspiracy to commit wire fraud earlier this year.
This is not the first time Amiri's text messages have incriminated him.
A 2023 probe found that following the murder of George Floyd, Amiri texted another officer about “riots in LA” over “the gorilla that died.” Other messages that were part of the Antioch Police Department's larger racist texting scandal included the use of the N-word, descriptions of violence against suspects and homophobic remarks.
Amiri's sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 12. Each of his two convictions — wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud — carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He is also scheduled to be tried in a related case in February, in which he is charged with conspiracy against rights, deprivation of rights under color law and destruction, alteration and falsification of records in federal investigations.
“Amiri and his co-conspirators’ deception has no place in law enforcement," Tripp said. "With this conviction, he now faces the consequences of his actions.”
