Two former police officers in Rohnert Park were sentenced to federal prison for their scheme of using their power to shake down residents they pulled over and found with cannabis, according to the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday.
Brendan “Jacy” Tatum, 43, received 30 months, or 2 and a half years in prison, and Joseph Huffaker, 41, received 20 months, or just over a year and a half. Tatum testified against Huffaker at the trial.
The years of their malfeasance and its scope prompted a civil grand jury report questioning law enforcement oversight in Rohnert Park and led to civil lawsuits against the city’s Department of Public Safety.
Tatum and Huffaker were indicted in 2021 for conspiracy to commit extortion “under control of official right.” Tatum also faced charges of falsification of records and tax evasion.
Tatum pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right as well as falsifying records and tax evasion. Huffaker pleaded not guilty but was convicted by a jury last July of extortion, falsifying records, and impersonating a federal officer.
The officers’ actions could be fodder for a compelling crime TV show. The pair worked on the drug interdiction team at the department, where they served between 2015 to 2017. They would stop drivers along U.S. Highway 101 between Rohnert Park and Cloverdale in order to extort cash and marijuana from them by threatening arrest if they didn’t turn over the cash and drugs, federal prosecutors said.
After they took the money and cannabis, they never reported the seizures, put them into evidence, or destroyed the drugs, which is standard police protocol. In fact, the drugs were sold for profit.
Once the interdiction team was disbanded after cannabis was legalized in the state, the officers kept up the “enforcement,” all of which was captured on body-worn camera footage.
In one instance, prosecutors said both officers wearing plain clothes stopped a driver and claimed to be agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They “seized” the driver’s cannabis without reporting the stop.
After media reports of the shady stops began to surface, including news stories about an FBI investigation, prosecutors said that Tatum drafted a press release and a false police report to cover his tracks.
Tatum also deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to his and his wife’s bank accounts in 2016 and used cash to buy a $46,000 fishing boat — all of which he failed to report on his taxes.
The DOJ said there was $443,059 in cash deposits and purchases, all unreported on his taxes.
In addition to the prison terms, the judge sentenced Huffaker and Tatum to a 3-year period of supervised release and ordered restitution in the amount of $301,145 for Tatum and $20,000 for Huffaker. Huffaker will begin serving his sentence on Sept. 15 and Tatum will begin serving his sentence on Jan. 11, 2027.
Oversight failures scrutinized
A 2021-22 Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury report about the case opted to examine police oversight — or lack thereof — in Rohnert Park, not only out of ethical reasons but because the city has been socked with over $1 million in settlements for three racketeering lawsuits stemming from the alleged actions of Tatum and Huffaker. In 2020, the city paid $1.5 million to settle suits filed by eight different victims.
The grand jury found that “significant progress” toward eliminating misconduct has been made in the city’s Department of Public Safety in the wake of the scandal, but that further improvements were needed to enhance oversight and adherence to department regulations, primarily through better oversight by the city manager and City Council.
“It is alleged that the two rogue officers were able to extort drugs and cash from motorists for at least two years without anyone in the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety or the city manager’s office being aware of their illicit activities,” the jury’s report reads. “Numerous factors were identified as having contributed to the ability of these officers to behave with impunity over the course of several years.”
One section of the report specifically calls out the public safety department for promoting Tatum from officer to sergeant in 2015 and giving him the “Officer of the Year” award for his drug interdiction activities. The year before, Tatum led a probation search that was deemed a violation of civil rights of the homeowners and cost the city a settlement of $145,000.
