By Julia Marnin
The Sacramento Bee
ROHNERT PARK, Calif. — A former police officer was convicted of extorting marijuana and money from drivers in California more than three years after federal prosecutors said his fellow officer pleaded guilty in the scheme, which involved both men impersonating federal agents.
Beginning in December 2017, Joseph Huffaker and Brendan Jacy Tatum, while working as Rohnert Park police officers, targeted drivers they believed had large amounts of marijuana and pulled them over, telling them “they were federal agents to scare them,” according to federal court filings.
During the traffic stops, the then-officers were off-duty, not in uniform and were without body-worn cameras, prosecutors said.
Huffaker and Tatum warned drivers that they were working for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and seized their marijuana and cash, according to prosecutors. Both men then sold the cannabis they were accused of stealing during the illegal seizures, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
They would threaten to arrest those who “contested the property seizures,” prosecutors said.
On July 11, Huffaker, 40, of Rohnert Park, was found guilty of six counts of conspiracy to commit extortion; extortion; conspiracy to falsify records in a federal investigation; falsifying records in a federal investigation; conspiracy to impersonate a federal officer; and impersonating a federal officer, according to a July 11 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
Huffaker’s defense attorneys did not immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment July 14.
Tatum, his co-defendant, pleaded guilty in the case in December 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He testified against Huffaker at trial, Tatum’s defense attorney Stuart Hanlon told McClatchy News.
“Soon after his arrest Jacy Tatum took responsibility for his illegal and criminal actions as a police officer in Rohnert Park and pleaded guilty to all charges and retired from the police force,” Hanlon, who was retained by Tatum, said in an emailed statement on July 14.
“He hoped his good friend Joe Huffaker would do the same, but he did not,” Hanlon added. “Mr Tatum realized as part of taking responsibility Tatum agreed to testify to the truth in Huffaker’s trial which included Joe’s involvement in the crime.”
The FBI began investigating Huffaker and Tatum after one person reported in February 2018 that they had “been shaken down by police officers on the highway,” according to prosecutors.
This was about two months after Huffaker and Tatum were accused of seizing 23 pounds of marijuana from one driver who they threatened to arrest if he did not give up the cannabis during a Dec. 18, 2017 traffic stop, court documents say.
Huffaker had worked for the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety between 2012 and 2019, according to prosecutors. Rohnert Park is about a 50-mile drive northwest from San Francisco.
For three years, the department operated an “interdiction team” that focused on pulling over cars “along Highway 101 between Cloverdale and Rohnert Park in an effort to seize illegal drugs” between 2014 and 2017, prosecutors said.
Huffaker and Tatum were accused of exporting “significant quantities” of cannabis from drivers about 11 months after the department ended the interdiction team, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
After the FBI began investigating the citizen’s report of a highway shake down, Tatum and Huffaker faked a police report and investigation into the December 2017 traffic stop and marijuana seizure, prosecutors said.
Then they handed the false report over to an FBI agent leading the investigation, according to prosecutors.
Huffaker, who is out on bond, is slated to be sentenced Oct. 15, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“No traffic stop should turn into a shakedown,” U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian said in a statement.
“Huffaker’s actions threw a shadow of suspicion over multiple law enforcement agencies which, thankfully, were quick to investigate and discover his scheme,” Missakian added.
Tatum’s sentencing hearing is set for Sept. 3, according to prosecutors.
Hanlon told McClatchy News that Tatum realizes that he could go to prison.
“He takes no joy in Huffaker’s conviction and wishes he like Tatum had acknowledged his criminal actions and that Tatum would not have had to testify,” Hanlon said.
Since Tatum was implicated in the case, Hanlon said he started an egg business with his wife, as well as another business helping with California wildfires.
“He had been an exemplary police officer for 13 years before his criminal acts,” Hanlon added. “To say he regrets them does not express his remorse. All he can now do is (accept) his punishment for his actions and continue to build his new life.”
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