A former Rohnert Park police officer was convicted of extortion for demanding marijuana from drivers suspected of transporting the drug, in exchange for not arresting them.
A federal jury on Friday also convicted Joseph Huffaker of impersonating a federal officer, falsifying records in a federal investigation and conspiracy on each charge, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California.
Huffaker, 40, was a police officer between 2012 and 2019 with the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, prosecutors said.
The jury found that Huffaker conspired with fellow police officer Brendan Jacy Tatum to pull over drivers they suspected of possessing significant amounts of marijuana and extorting the drivers’ marijuana by claiming to be agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
One seizure by the phony ATF agents netted the pair 23 pounds of marijuana, prosecutors said.
The officers threatened to arrest the drivers if they protested the seizures. The two weren’t in uniform and were off duty when they pulled over the drivers.
“No traffic stop should turn into a shakedown,” U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said in a news release. “Misconduct by police officers undermines public safety and jeopardizes public cooperation with law enforcement. Huffaker’s actions threw a shadow of suspicion over multiple law enforcement agencies.”
Rohnert Park police operated an interdiction team between 2014 and early 2017 that pulled over vehicles on U.S. Highway 101 between Cloverdale and Rohnert Park in an effort to seize illegal drugs, prosectors said.
“Misconduct by police officers undermines public safety and jeopardizes public cooperation with law enforcement. Huffaker’s actions threw a shadow of suspicion over multiple law enforcement agencies.” U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian
The two officers’ scheme began to unravel in February 2018, when the FBI received a complaint from someone who claimed to have been extorted. After the FBI asked for a police report on the incident, Huffaker and Tatum created a false report and sent it to the FBI.
Huffaker faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, extortion under color of official right, and falsifying records in a federal investigation; five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of conspiracy to falsify records in a federal investigation and conspiracy to impersonate a federal officer; and three years and a $250,000 fine for the count of impersonating a federal officer.
Tatum pleaded guilty in December 2021 to conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, falsifying records in a federal investigation, and tax evasion. He has yet to be sentenced.