‘I will walk the long path to redemption’: Pittsburg officer apologizes for fraud scheme as he’s sentenced to federal prison for years

OAKLAND — Patrick Berhan, the former Pittsburg police officer whose scheme to acquire illegal pay raises let to a massive corruption investigation into two East Bay departments, was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in prison.

Berhan shuddered slightly as U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White announced the sentence in court Tuesday afternoon, but didn’t otherwise react. He will not serve his prison term immediately, but rather be given a surrender date and remain out of custody in the meantime.

The sentence is more than even prosecutors asked for, but White said he was struck by the breach of trust and Berhan’s alleged destruction of evidence. He said it was a “very, very serious matter that requires a very, very serious sentence.”

Berhan pleaded guilty earlier this year to wire fraud, conspiracy, and distribution of anabolic steroids to other law enforcement officers, and acknowledged his crimes in a public statement to the court Tuesday. His voice cracked as he told White he would “walk the long path to redemption for the rest of my life…so my son can look at me one day and see a father he is proud of.”

“I was surrounded by negativity,” Berhan said of his law enforcement career in Pittsburg. “Over time I felt my moral compass shifting. I was willing to cut corners, or I guess you would say cheat to win. I was willing to do it with school. I was willing to do it with steroids…things I deeply regret to this day.”

White acknowledged Berhan’s apology but said he doubted whether Berhan would have stopped his criminality had he not been caught. White said he was not trying to be funny, but was struck by the irony of Berhan ruining his life and turning to criminality while cheating to acquire a degree in criminal law.

“Had you actually taken the courses and read and done the essays, taken the exams, maybe that would have caused you to hesitate to commit this antisocial behavior,” White said.

In many ways, Berhan was the catalyst for the entire investigation aimed at Pittsburg and Antioch officers, which resulted in criminal charges against 14 of them. He instructed his then-fiancee to cheat on online college courses to obtain a degree — and “earn” a pay raise offered city employees who acquire higher education. Then he offered the woman’s services to other officers at both departments.

The scheme came crashing down when Berhan confessed infidelity to the woman, and she promptly came forward to the FBI. Several involved officers’ phones were subsequently seized in a series of early 2022 FBI raids, which is where authorities found evidence of more serious crimes, including an alleged conspiracy by three Antioch officers to assault people for sport.

All these facts were fresh in White’s mind on Tuesday. He recently presided over the trial of ex-Antioch officer Morteza Amiri, a former K9 cop implicated in both the college degree scheme and the civil rights violations. Berhan’s ex was the government’s star witness and she testified that Berhan gave her a choice: commit fraud for him and his friends, or they wouldn’t be able to stay together, buy a home, and build a life together.

White said the fact that Berhan and his peers were in law enforcement only exacerbated the seriousness of the scheme.

“Police officers have a lot of power over people’s lives. It strikes the court that in very man instances you have violated that sacred trust that was placed on you,” White said.

Berhan is the first of those implicated to be sentenced to prison. One of his co-defendants, a former Antioch community service officer, avoided jail time for her relatively minor role in the scheme. Three of Berhan’s remaining four co-defendants entered guilty pleas and are awaiting sentencing, and a fourth — Amiri — was convicted at trial.

Berhan’s lawyer, Edward Robinson, argued for a 366-day sentence, arguing that Berhan “has made “tremendous strides as to post offense rehabilitation,” and “hasn’t complained,” but rather sought work, taken care of his family, “honored his parents,” and expressed remorse for what he did. He said Berhan’s work as a law enforcement officer added a breach of public trust to the offenses. He said the crimes were the result of “great immaturity, greed, testosterone,” and “just recklessness.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Cheng said that Berhan also took “very deliberate” steps to hide his criminal conduct by destroying evidence — placing some in a dumpster, deleting electronic records and instructing his ex to do the same.

“Mr. Berhan was the originator of the scheme. He’s the one that knew the other officers and brought them in,” Cheng said.

At the end of his statement, Berhan revealed that his own biological father went to prison when Berhan was very young. He said he never got to know his dad and is “grateful” to his stepfather — a retired law enforcement officer — but that his father’s own life’s journey is fresh on his mind today.

“I can’t help but feel like I am repeating a cycle and it cuts me deeply,” Berhan said.