The longest prison sentence yet in the ongoing Antioch Police Department scandals came down Tuesday, as a now-former officer who ordered grisly K9 attacks and falsified work to get a pay raise has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
It is difficult to keep count of the many scandals that have come out of the Antioch Police Department, but the one we revisit today is unrelated to that department’s racist text message scandal. Today we're talking about the case of now-former Antioch PD Officer Morteza Amiri, who became notorious over allegations of vicious and unnecessary K9 dog attacks, falsifying police records detailing those attacks, and getting raises based on coursework and a degree where he paid other people to do the work for him. Once these scandals hit the fan, Amiri was one of the officers who refused to show up for court hearings claiming he had “industrial injuries.”
Amiri did eventually show up for court, and had two separate trials. In August 2024, a jury found him guilty of one count of wire fraud and conspiracy over the fraudulently-obtained degree scheme. Then in March 2025, he was found guilty of deprivation and falsifying records in connection with the K9 attack, and he’s been in federal custody ever since.
Now KTVU reports that Amiri has been sentenced to seven years in prison, the longest prison sentence yet in any of the myriad Antioch PD scandals.
“Amiri misused his police dog to inflict unnecessary and excessive force against a victim and cheated his way into a pay raise,” US Attorney Craig Missakian said in a Tuesday statement. “These crimes are appalling in themselves, but even more so that they were committed by a police officer. With this sentence, Amiri is now being held to account for his multiple betrayals of the public trust.”
The K9 incident happened July 24, 2019. Amiri pulled over a bicyclist who didn’t have his bike light on. Amiri then punched that suspect and wrestled him to the ground, then ordered his K-9 Purcy to bite the victim. Amiri also texted pictures of the injuries to his colleagues, with messages like “that’s a piece of the suspect’s flesh lol.”
Amiri also submitted a falsified police report of the incident, claiming that he deployed the K9 because he was on patrol alone, when in fact there was another officer with him.
In addition to the seven years in prison, Amiri was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $3,180 restitution to the dog-biting victim, plus $10,526 to the City of Antioch for the ill-gotten pay raise.
Image: Antioch Police Department via Facebook
