A former East Bay police officer charged in connection with a 2023 corruption scandal was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison Tuesday, marking one of the longest terms handed down to more than a dozen officials charged.
In two separate trials, former Antioch Police Officer Devon Wenger was convicted of conspiring with fellow officers to use excessive force against Antioch residents, conspiring to distribute illegal steroids, and destroying related evidence.
He will serve 90 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White said Tuesday.
“I’m baffled by the person presented in the letters to the court — a person who is otherwise courageous, law abiding, respectful of the law, and a positive contributor to the community at large — and on the other hand, the person who was running lawless in the Antioch community and decided that he would be the judge and the jury carrying out a sentence,” White said before handing down the sentence.
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### Steroid Distribution and Evidence Destruction Conviction
Wenger was found guilty in April of conspiring to distribute synthetic steroids and destroying evidence when the FBI executed a search warrant at his home.
A government witness, former Antioch officer Daniel Harris, testified that he sold testosterone to Wenger, who also agreed to send it by mail to a former military colleague. The sale was never completed because the package was intercepted by the U.S. Postal Service.
Federal prosecutors alleged that when FBI agents went to Wenger’s home in 2022 with a warrant for his phone, the former officer deleted texts about steroids as well as Harris’ phone number and his contact from Venmo, the financial app used for the payments.
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### Excessive Force Conspiracy Trial
In a separate trial months later, Wenger was found guilty of conspiring with two other ex-Antioch police officers, Morteza Amiri and Eric Rombough, to deprive people of their civil rights by subjecting them to excessive force.
The officers were also accused of failing to report uses of force and falsifying related police reports.
During that trial, Wenger was cleared of a specific use-of-force charge related to a 2021 incident, when he shot a woman with a foam baton round. Judge White determined that the use of force in that case was “reasonable.”
Rombough pleaded guilty to the conspiracy allegation earlier this year in exchange for his testimony against Amiri and Wenger.
In March, Amiri was acquitted of the same conspiracy charge but found guilty of using excessive force against a man by unnecessarily siccing his police K-9 on him.
Originally, Wenger’s excessive force trial was linked to Amiri’s, but Judge White declared a mistrial two days in after Wenger’s attorney said she could no longer represent him.
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### Defense and Prosecutors’ Arguments
In their resentencing motion, Wenger’s attorneys highlighted his difficult childhood and trauma suffered while serving in the Army and National Guard.
“His deployment in Afghanistan involved clearing improvised explosive devices at great risk to himself,” they wrote. “He experienced a great deal of violence in that role. Like many soldiers, he compartmentalized the trauma rather than seek counseling.”
They also noted that as a former law enforcement officer, Wenger would face increased safety risks in prison, possibly requiring heightened security and limiting his access to regular institution programming.
On the other hand, prosecutors argued that Wenger’s behavior—including falsifying police reports and deleting text messages to cover his crimes—revealed a “contempt for the law” and warranted a harsher sentence.
“He was a sworn law enforcement officer who was looking to harm people, who encouraged and applauded other officers who harmed people, who helped to illegally distribute drugs, and who covered up what he did by deleting and falsifying evidence,” prosecutors wrote.
“This was not an accident or oversight. An appropriate sentence would spotlight and deter such bad police conduct.”
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### Additional Details from the Proceedings
Prosecutors also noted that throughout his legal proceedings, Wenger denied actions captured on video related to some alleged uses of excessive force and mischaracterized text messages cited as evidence of wrongdoing. His defense claimed the exchanges were merely “venting and bravado” between coworkers.
Wenger petitioned President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi for support during the proceedings and declared in a news release after his mistrial that “justice ultimately prevailed.”
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### Judge’s Remarks and Sentencing Decision
Judge White stated that Wenger’s apparent lack of remorse contributed to the sentencing decision.
“I am not sure the defendant has gotten the message,” he said in court. “And I am not sure if put in a position to mete his own form of justice out on various individuals, that he wouldn’t do so again, unless he gets the message from this court that his conduct is not only reprehensible, but he needs to be deterred from doing these acts again.”
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KQED’s Julie Small contributed to this report.
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2025/12/02/ex-antioch-cop-sentenced-to-7-5-years-for-sprawling-2023-corruption-scandal/