Ex-Rohnert Park police officer could take plea in marijuana extortion case

ROHNERT PARK >> Just six weeks after a federal grand jury indicted two ex-Rohnert Park policemen on charges of extorting marijuana couriers and posing as federal agents, there may be good news on the horizon for one and bad news for the other.

At a Nov. 3 court hearing for defendants Brendan Jacy Tatum and Joseph Huffaker, federal prosecutors revealed that they have extended a plea offer to Tatum and expect him to enter a guilty plea to at least one federal offense. Huffaker, meanwhile, may soon be charged with even more federal crimes than those he already faces — he is already looking at a potential decades-long prison term if convicted.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Frey didn’t describe the nature of the plea deal at the hearing, nor did she say what the potential charges would be. She said the new allegations against Huffaker came from documents “we obtained recently.”

“We expect to provide sort of a final sweep, we believe, of records shortly. … Some of the additional documents that the government believes may lead to additional charges against Mr. Huffaker,” Frey said. She later added: “The government has offered to provide Mr. Huffaker with an overview of the evidence against him. And we’re hoping to schedule a meeting for that shortly.”

The next hearing has been set for Dec. 15. Huffaker and Tatum face charges of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of authority. The indictment alleges they stole marijuana and cash from couriers, using a ruse that they were seizing the items in their capacity as law enforcement officers. The traffic stops occurred on Highway 101, targeting people driving from marijuana farms in Northern California, prosecutors say.

“(In 2017) Tatum conspired with Huffaker to extort property under color of official right, claiming to be ATF agents, threatening to arrest drivers if they contested seizures of their property during these traffic stops, and then Tatum and Huffaker seized their property, specifically marijuana, without reporting or checking the seized property into evidence, or documenting or reporting the stop and seizure,” the indictment alleges. Huffaker’s attorney, Heather Phillips, has made several public statements saying she expects her client to be cleared by the case’s end.

“It is easy to get an indictment, as the defendant and his attorney are not allowed to take part in the grand jury proceedings,” Phillips told KQED-TV last September. “It is solely a one-sided presentation of the prosecution’s case, and the burden of proof is very low.”