Officer is charged with aiding Vietnamese gangs
Prosecutor: Veteran cop accessed SJPD computer systemto leak investigative information to criminals
SAN JOSE — A San Jose police officer linked to Vietnamese organized crime was arraigned Thursday on charges he leaked police intelligence to gang members.
Derrick Antonio, 34, was charged with five counts of unauthorized computer access — involving police databases — and one count of being an accessory to a crime after the fact. All of the charges are appended with gang enhancements that increase potential penalties and jail time.
Antonio, who is free on bail, briefly appeared in a San Jose courtroom Thursday afternoon. He did not enter a plea and is scheduled to next appear in court Oct 3. The nine-year member of SJPD declined comment after the hearing.
He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Deputy District Attorney Crystal Seiler said the charges against Antonio stem from allegations that on five different occasions, he accessed the SJPD computer system to leak investigative information to gang members. He is also charged with feeding information to them after an unspecified gang assault.
“It’s disappointing when a law enforcement officer finds himself in this position and, frankly, it besmirches the badges of our men and women in law enforcement,” Seiler said.
Antonio has been on paid administrative leave since June after his name came up during an investigation dubbed “Operation: Gang of Thrones,” described as a “criminal-conspiracy investigation” that began in March and culminated Aug. 23 with his arrest alongside nearly twodozen other suspects.
“It’s disappointing when a law-enforcement officer finds himself in this position ...” — DeputyDistrict Attorney Crystal Seiler
The six-month probe spearheaded by the SJPD gang investigations unit — and involving the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration — targeted a sophisticated gambling, extortion and drug trafficking ring run out of some of the myriad Vietnamese cafes that dot the city.
The reach of the operation was illustrated Aug. 23 when, in addition to federal agents, SJPD tapped an array of personnel from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, Santa Clara and Milpitas police, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
They served search and arrest warrants at locations in San Jose, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Fremont, Anaheim. And Louisiana state troopers intercepted a freight shipment carrying a huge cache of narcotics headed from the Bay Area to Westwego, Loui- siana, just outside New Orleans.
Antonio has been charged alongside 23 other defendants spanning six separate but related cases covering crimes including extortion, public corruption, narcotic trafficking, assault, illegal gun possession and conspiracy. At least two homicides are associated with the group, authorities say.
Five of the defendants who are out of custody owing to bail and low-level offenses were also arraigned Tuesday. And five at-large suspects are still being sought on conspiracy, accessory after the fact, narcotics and gambling charges.