When Antioch Police Officer Devon Wenger exposed misconduct inside his department in 2021, he believed that truth would protect him. Instead, it became the weapon used to destroy him.
The evidence now emerging in multiple forensic reports reveals a deliberate, coordinated effort to fabricate and manipulate digital evidence to frame Wenger, a whistleblower who had accused his superiors of corruption, harassment, and criminal misuse of state databases. What began as a lawful internal complaint evolved into one of the most disturbing cases of digital retaliation ever documented against a law enforcement officer in California.
In July 2021, Wenger came forward with proof that three members of upper management in the Antioch PD were abusing power. Wenger discovered Lt. Robert “Powell” Meads had been stalking him and his girlfriend using CLETS, California’s confidential law enforcement database. Meads accessed private data, disseminated intimate photos, and harassed Wenger’s family.
The complaint triggered a predictable backlash inside the Antioch Police Department. Within days, patrol units drove by Wenger’s Oakley home, seven miles outside their jurisdiction. Wenge then testifies to an independent investigator Karen Kramer about Meads’ misconduct.
Captain Tony Morefield then explicitly threatens Wenger “not to talk or else”.
On October 26, 2021, Wenger responded to a stolen vehicle call that ended in a lawful use-of-force arrest. Wenger deployed a 40mm less-lethal launcher, a tactic fully consistent with Antioch Police Department policy and his training. At the time, no complaints or policy violations were noted, the arrest was by the book.
Days later, on November 2, 2021, that same incident was weaponized against him. A retaliatory Internal Affairs case (IA21-012) was opened, accusing Wenger of “excessive force.” The complaint was filed by Lt. Meads, the very officer under investigation for CLETS abuse whom Wenger had recently exposed. Meads’ memo even conceded the accusation was based on hindsight, claiming that “de-escalation may have prevented” the force, despite clear evidence that Wenger had followed procedure and arrived last on scene with no tactical briefing.
The IA investigation was invalid from the start, a direct violation of POBAR §3304(b), which protects officers from punitive action for lawful, good-faith performance, and §3304(d), which requires internal investigations to be timely and founded. By applying hindsight to a split-second field decision, Meads’ complaint also violated the Graham v. Connor standard, which forbids judging officers after the fact rather than by the perspective of the moment. In short, the department fabricated a misconduct narrative to undermine the whistleblower.
APD’s handling of IA21-012 further breached Policy 1024, which mandates impartial complaint review, and Policy 300, requiring fair evaluation of use-of-force incidents. Instead, the process became a retaliatory tool, a false IA investigation was designed to discredit the one officer who dared to expose misconduct inside the ranks.
When Meads was finally fired in December 2021 for CLETS abuse, Antioch’s command staff immediately deleted his email archives, an act of evidence destruction that erased the paper trail of how far up the misconduct reached. Within weeks, Meads was quietly rehired as a “consultant.” The message was clear: those who protect the truth will be punished, and those who bury it will be rewarded.
Captain Anthony Morefield not only supported Meads’ return but personally helped him secure another law enforcement position in Pinole, California, despite his record of misconduct. The decision violated the spirit of POST Regulation 1001, which prohibits rehiring or reassigning officers with known integrity violations, and ignored the fact that Meads’ CLETS misuse constituted a federal computer crime under 18 U.S.C. §1030. In doing so, APD sent an unmistakable message: those who break the law from within are protected, those who expose it are punished.
Within weeks, the conspiracy expanded beyond city limits. On March 23, 2022, Contra Costa DA Investigator Larry Wallace, cross-designated as a DHS agent, obtained a defective state search warrant for Wenger’s personal iPhone. The application relied on fabricated subscriber data, over broad scope, and false financial claims to justify an invasive search. Waiting for Wallace that morning were FBI Special Agent Thuy Zoback and members of the Safe Streets Task Force. Though cloaked as a state action, it was a joint federal-state operation from the start, using the state warrant as cover for an unauthorized federal search. Internal FBI notes later confirmed the bureau was orchestrating the seizure behind the scenes.
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Teak Wilson, who oversaw the Safe Streets Task Force operation internally dubbed “Bad Apples,” was fully aware from the start that this was no ordinary gang case. She deliberately misclassified it as a “TOC-West” Safe Streets investigation to unlawfully obtain federal funding and resources, a misrepresentation amounting to grant fraud, as it diverted DOJ funds meant for violent-crime enforcement to fuel a retaliatory probe.
Wilson approved investigative reports that concealed misconduct by agents such as Zoback and Holcombe, covering up serious policy breaches. She also gave false testimony under oath that wrongfully implicated Devon Wenger. Wilson told the jury that, on the morning of March 23, 2022, Wenger had barricaded himself in his home and was frantically deleting phone data to obstruct investigators. This claim was patently false. Her own FBI 302 and Virtual Command Center log show that Wenger was not at the residence, he was at his parents’ home, in contact with agents, and fully cooperative. The task force tracked his location through GPS and phone calls and arranged to meet him at a neutral site, where he voluntarily surrendered his iPhone without resistance.
Despite knowing these facts, Wilson misled the jury, falsely implying Wenger was hiding and destroying evidence. She even sent scripted text messages, “Devon, this is the FBI… We have a warrant, exit your residence…”, to fabricate a record of non-compliance, though she knew he wasn’t there. This deliberate staging created a false obstruction narrative, a direct violation of FBI truthfulness policies and federal law. Her sworn misstatements meet the legal definition of perjury, clearly intended to prejudice the jury and reinforce a manufactured case.
In reality, Wenger met agents that morning at a boat-storage facility, where his unlocked iPhone was confiscated around 9 a.m. Yet the device was not processed for nearly nine hours. During that unaccounted-for period, more than 2,000 files were written or altered. Forensic analyst Jon A. Berryhill found no legitimate chain-of-custody documentation and deemed the handling “suspect.” When the GrayKey extraction finally began, metadata revealed that agents had already accessed messages and changed deletion settings before obtaining lawful authorization – a blatant Fourth Amendment violation.
Five days later, Zoback formally took custody of the phone, still without a federal warrant, and later filed an affidavit that concealed the prior illegal search. Every byte of data drawn from that device was now constitutionally tainted.
But the deceit didn’t end there. To justify their actions retroactively, federal and postal officials constructed an elaborate false timeline, complete with forged letters, phantom packages, and manipulated tracking logs.
Early in the investigation, Contra Costa DA Investigator Larry Wallace fabricated a series of anonymous “tip” letters – purportedly from a concerned citizen – accusing Pittsburg and Antioch police officers of steroid trafficking. Handwriting analysis later confirmed that Wallace himself authored the letters, manufacturing a false informant narrative to justify a federal probe that never should have existed.
Those falsified tips became the foundation for an FBI Safe Streets Task Force case under the Concord Resident Agency, which Wallace and others reclassified as a “drug distribution” investigation. This reclassification unlocked unlimited TOC-West federal funding, turning a baseless vendetta into a federally financed operation. In truth, there was no probable cause, no credible evidence—only a retaliatory campaign masquerading as legitimate law enforcement.
Next came a staged package, fabricated to falsely link Devon Wenger to alleged steroid trafficking. USPS Inspector Sukhdeep Singh, a member of the same FBI Safe Streets Task Force, manipulated internal postal tracking data to create the illusion of a legitimate controlled delivery.
Two sibling shipping labels were generated simultaneously in Florida from a single container parcel: one labeled #9405503699300174882166, addressed to Alex Doyle in Dallas, Texas, and the other #9405503699300174882173, addressed to Danny Moore – an alias for Antioch Officer Daniel Harris, who was on medical leave at the time – at a Discovery Bay, California address.
The evidence trail quickly began to unravel. The parcel addressed to Alex Doyle in Dallas (#2166) was never documented to have left Florida, yet USPS tracking logs falsely reflected phantom container scans showing it had “arrived” in Texas. Meanwhile, the companion label addressed to “Danny Moore” in Discovery Bay (#2173) was allegedly “seized” in Richmond, California.
Photographs of the evidence box (see below) reveal that label #2173 was crudely taped over #2166, unmistakably proving that the so-called “controlled delivery” was staged from the start.
Even the warrants and digital evidence timelines didn’t line up. The search warrant for Officer Harris’s iCloud account, allegedly the source of the incriminating parcel tracking messages and emails, was issued on February 11. Agent Zoback received the iCloud data from Apple on February 22, then forwarded it to the Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (RCFL) with instructions to process the material and produce a complete digital report on portable media.
RCFL examined the data from February 22 through March 1, 2022, and returned the processed iCloud materials to Zoback on March 2 at 4:08 p.m. This means the FBI Safe Streets Task Force (Concord RA) could not have relied on those messages to justify the parcel operation, they didn’t even possess the evidence yet.
Further compounding the inconsistencies, USPS records revealed major weight discrepancies: the original #2173 parcel registered 1.06 pounds, while the so-called “seized” version weighed 2.01 pounds-nearly double-confirming that the package had been tampered with or swapped.
Taken together, the falsified labels, manipulated tracking records, and contradictory data confirm what the evidence photos make unmistakably clear: the entire USPS operation was staged, a fabricated prop in a broader retaliatory effort to criminalize a whistleblower.
Subsequent FOIA-released USPS metadata revealed even deeper deception. Parcel #2173 had been artificially updated with fabricated tracking scans in late February, days before any communication occurred between Officer Harris and Wenger. In other words, the “evidence” was staged first, and the messages were crafted later to fit the script. The government’s timeline wasn’t merely inaccurate; it was deliberately engineered to legitimize a prearranged narrative.
At trial, Inspector Sukhdeep Singh testified to authenticate the package and its contents but failed to address the anomalies in its tracking history. By omitting that the task force likely orchestrated the “seizure” using insider coordination, and by concealing the absence of any internal fraud inquiry into the tracking data—Singh misled the jury. His conduct violated USPS investigative protocols and constituted a Fourth Amendment breach, as he executed the search without proper postal cause or warrant.
Singh’s testimony further implicated misuse of federal mail-inspection authority to advance a retaliatory investigation. Under oath, he admitted that he could not locate key tracking data for the parcel, an irregularity made even more suspicious given that Wenger’s legal team later obtained the full tracking history directly through FOIA. Singh also confirmed that the seized box measured approximately 11.25″ × 8.5″ × 5.5″ and weighed about 2.0 pounds at seizure—in direct conflict with the original mailing record, which listed the parcel at 1.06 pounds with dimensions of 8.8″ × 5.2″ × 5.8″. These discrepancies, coupled with the falsified metadata, prove the package was altered, the physical centerpiece of a staged and fraudulent operation.
Finally, Berryhill’s forensic audit uncovered a planted USPS tracking screenshot—the prosecution’s supposed “smoking gun.” The image, entered as Grand Jury Exhibit 244, was not native to Wenger’s phone. It sat in a cache directory inconsistent with iPhone screenshot behavior, bore a mismatched timestamp, and lacked attachment metadata linking it to any message. Berryhill concluded it was “from an external source,” inserted into the extraction data to suggest Wenger had monitored the shipment. In plain terms: the agents planted digital evidence.
Taken together, these discrepancies form a single pattern of deceit. Agents forged tip letters to launch the investigation, staged a fake package to justify a search, and then falsified digital artifacts to implicate a whistleblower. They bent time, data, and reality itself to construct probable cause where none existed.
As the retaliatory Internal Affairs case (IA21-012) approached its one-year expiration, Captain Trevor Schnitzius, under the direction of Captain Anthony Morefield, issued a Tolling Notice on November 1, 2022, extending the investigation beyond the statutory one-year limit. The justification was deliberately vague – citing “additional information” related to a criminal probe, without identifying new evidence or misconduct. In reality, every piece of evidence at that point had already cleared Wenger. The extension served no legitimate investigative purpose; it existed solely to keep Wenger under a permanent cloud of suspicion. This violated POBAR §3304(d)(1), which prohibits extensions without substantial new evidence, Labor Code §1102.5, protecting employees from retaliatory procedures, and APD Policy 1004, which forbids weaponizing internal processes against whistleblowers.
On February 26, 2023, Sergeant Gary Lowther issued a second tolling notice, this time claiming the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office had “discovered text messages” between Wenger and Sergeant Josh Evans. Those same messages — spanning October 2021 to May 2022 — had already been reviewed and deemed unfounded. Despite that, APD extended the IA again. None of Wenger’s supervisors faced scrutiny for the alleged communications, underscoring that the focus remained singularly punitive. Once again, the department ignored POBAR’s one-year rule, using tolling as a procedural weapon rather than an investigative necessity.
A third tolling notice followed on March 9, 2023, issued by Sergeant Loren Bledsoe, vaguely referencing an ongoing DA investigation that had already been described internally as “lacking probable cause.” By then, Wenger had been under continuous investigation for more than sixteen months — four months beyond the legal limit — without any new reports, updates, or evidence provided. The repeated tolling amounted to harassment by process, a deliberate tactic to prolong uncertainty, isolate Wenger, and damage his professional reputation.
Across three separate extensions between November 2022 and March 2023, Antioch Police leadership weaponized the tolling process to keep a whistleblower trapped in bureaucratic purgatory. The intent was clear: punish Wenger through endless delay while federal agents quietly built their parallel case behind the scenes. The FBI and Contra Costa DA’s Office actively benefited from the ongoing “open” IA, using it to justify withholding notice of Wenger’s criminal exposure. Together, they turned administrative law into a smokescreen for retaliation.
In April 2023, Contra Costa District Attorney Investigator Larry Wallace orchestrated a calculated media leak, selectively releasing internal evidence in the form of two inflammatory compilations of alleged “racist text messages” from Antioch police officers—one spanning 21 pages, the other 14 pages. The leaks came months before any indictments were filed, timed to ignite public outrage and position DA Diana Becton as a reformer cracking down on “racist cops.” Politically, the stunt worked. Legally and ethically, it was built on deception.
Wallace’s leaks violated confidentiality laws and internal investigative protocols. The so-called “message compilations” were cherry-picked and stripped of context, crafted for maximum media impact rather than evidentiary accuracy. In the process, Wallace exposed officers’ personal cell phone numbers, including that of Officer Eric Rombough, who would later emerge as a key player in the federal case against Devon Wenger.
The most egregious deception came in Wallace’s report falsely identifying Wenger as a participant in those group text threads – despite clear proof that he was never part of them. In fact, Wenger had reported Rombough’s racist behavior back in July 2021, making him a whistleblower, not a participant. Yet, in a stunning reversal, the whistleblower was recast as one of the offenders.
Behind the scenes, the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorneys seized on Wallace’s fabricated narrative to bolster their federal civil-rights case. They repurposed Wenger’s own whistleblower complaint, originally filed through third-party investigator Karen Kramer, and twisted it into evidence against him. Meanwhile, Rombough – the officer Wenger had reported – was flipped into a cooperating witness in the 269 case, giving him a platform to retaliate against the very person who had exposed his misconduct.
The result was a masterclass in institutional inversion. Wallace manufactured a scandal to generate headlines, buried exculpatory evidence of local political corruption, and helped engineer a prosecution built not on justice—but on lies, leaks, and political self-preservation.
*Article one of a series.
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