Officer Sentenced To 7 Years In Prison After Setting K-9 On Cyclist, Faking College Degree

ANTIOCH, CA — A former Antioch police officer was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in federal prison after he needlessly directed a K-9 to bite a bicyclist and paid a person to earn a university degree in his name so he could get more money, according to authorities.

Tuesday’s sentencing of Morteza Amiri followed a trial in 2024 in which a jury found the 34-year-old guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as a separate trial earlier this year, when a jury found him guilty of deprivation of rights under color of law and falsification of records, authorities said.

“Amiri misused his police dog to inflict unnecessary and excessive force against a victim and cheated his way into a pay raise,” U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said in a news release. “These crimes are appalling in themselves, but even more so that they were committed by a police officer.”

On July 24, 2019, Amiri pulled over a bicyclist who, according to Amiri, did not have his bicycle light on, authorities said. Amiri punched the bicyclist and took the person to the ground, then called for his K-9 to bite, injuring the bicyclist, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Amiri was accompanied by a ride-along officer with a neighboring agency, and that officer assisted with the deployment of the K-9, authorities said.

Amiri later shared pictures of the victim’s wounds with other Antioch officers, according to the department. One officer responded, “Yeah buddy good boy,” referring to the K-9, and “Lol you bit [A.A.],” authorities said. In response to a question from another officer about what cut the dog’s face, Amiri responded, “that’s a piece of the suspect’s flesh lol,” according to the department.

Amiri falsified a police report of the incident, stating that one of the reasons he deployed the K-9 was that he was alone, when in fact the ride-along officer had been with him and had helped deploy the K-9, authorities said.

Amiri also faced fraud charges in a separate case related to the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments' offering of reimbursements toward higher education tuition and expenses, along with raises and other incentives, upon completion of a degree, according to the justice department.

Instead of completing the coursework, Amiri and co-conspirators hired someone to take entire courses on their behalf at an online university to secure a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, authorities said. Amiri and his co-conspirators then claimed they had taken the courses and earned the degrees when requesting reimbursements or incentives from their employers, according to the department.

In addition to the prison term, Amiri was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $3,180 to the bicyclist and $10,526 to the city of Antioch, authorities said.

The charges against Amiri were brought as part of an investigation into the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments that resulted in multiple charges against 10 current and former officers and employees for crimes ranging from use of excessive force to fraud, according to the justice department.