Former Antioch Cop Faces Drug Charges in Second Conspiracy Trial

Updated 3:36 p.m. Tuesday

A former Antioch police officer faces a federal criminal trial set to start Monday on charges he conspired with another officer to distribute steroids.

Prosecutors allege that Devon Christopher Wenger was part of a conspiracy to obtain and sell steroids with one-time co-defendant Daniel James Harris, who is expected to testify against Wenger as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

It’ll be the second time this year that Wenger defends himself against conspiracy charges in an Oakland federal courtroom, after a previous case alleging he and other officers repeatedly violated suspects’ civil rights ended in a mistrial for him last month.

The steroids case is the latest to reach a jury stemming from a widespread investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office where authorities unearthed a trove of racist and misogynistic text messages shared among officers in Antioch and some in Pittsburg, which was first announced in the late summer of 2023.

The investigation determined that 14 Antioch officers — including Wenger and fellow former Antioch police officers Morteza Amiri and Eric Rombough — exchanged those texts. Some indicated violations of civil rights, and many included racist memes and derogatory messages about Black and Latino residents. While about half of the department’s officers received those messages, none reported them to superiors or outside authorities.

An Antioch Police vehicle sits in the parking lot of the Antioch Police Department on March 3, 2025.The texts were discovered while the FBI was investigating members of the Antioch Police Department on accusations ranging from alleged civil rights violations to faking college degrees, along with the allegations of steroid distribution. A federal grand jury indicted 10 Antioch and Pittsburg officers for those crimes in 2023.

Opening statements are scheduled Monday on charges against Wenger alleging conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids as well as destruction, alteration and falsification of records in a federal investigation.

Harris pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids, possession of anabolic steroids with the intent to distribute, and attempted possession of anabolic steroids with the intent to distribute, as well as bank fraud in another case.

Prosecutors expect Harris to testify that he purchased anabolic steroids from a source in Florida to use himself as well as distribute to other law enforcement officers, according to the government’s trial brief. Prosecutors allege Wenger was aware that Harris sold steroids and purchased some, later noting to Harris in a text that his “dad might want some too, he’s trying to cut fat and gain muscle.”

Stanford law professor Robert Weisberg said it’s likely that the defense will play up the fact that Harris took a plea, but juries largely find police to be credible witnesses, especially if they’re persuasive on the witness stand.

“Cops may have more credibility even if they did something wrong, but it’s not a happy thing for a cop to testify against a cop,” Weisberg said. “It’s self-interested on Harris’ part, but that’s always true in these cases where the cooperator is self-interested. The fact is that there’s a blue wall, and if he’s willing to breach it, he may have more credibility.”

Wenger also allegedly connected Harris to a friend with the initials B.M. to purchase steroids, but law enforcement intercepted that shipment in March 2022 as Wenger was allegedly trying to retrieve it.

On March 2, 2022, Wenger texted Harris and asked if he could “come by Monday or Sunday to pick up [B.M.’s] stuff?” according to the prosecution’s court filings.

“I’m leaving to Long Beach on Tuesday, so I’ll pick your stuff up from Dan on Monday or one of those days before I leave!” Wenger wrote to B.M. a minute later.

“Fuck yeah!” B.M. responded. “LET’S GET FUCKING JACKEEEEEEEEEED.”

Later that month, law enforcement agents in Weatherford, Texas, seized Harris’ iPhone. Soon, law enforcement seized Wenger’s phone. Prosecutors allege Wenger attempted to delete full message threads and phone call logs between Wenger, Harris and B.M. from his phone prior to handing it over to law enforcement.

A forensic review was unable to retrieve any messages from Signal, an encrypted messaging service. Prosecutors say they’ll bring evidence to show Wenger “selectively deleted messages relevant to his purchase and distribution of anabolic steroids,” according to their trial brief.

That brief also says while Wenger may argue that he had “a mere buyer-seller relationship with Harris,” the evidence they plan to present at trial shows that Wenger’s facilitating sales between his father and B.M. showed he had a “knowing participation in the conspiracy.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment ahead of the trial.

During jury selection, Dena Marie Young, an attorney for Wenger, posed additional questions to potential jurors, including those with law enforcement experience, family members who were in law enforcement, and those who worked closely with law enforcement. Several of the questions centered around whether testimony from those in law enforcement should have more weight than others, because “they take an oath.”

“Are you open to the possibility that law enforcement officers might be mistaken, or even lie?” Young wrote in one set of potential questions. “Can you set aside your opinion and judge the testimony of law enforcement officers the same [as] any other witness?”

Young did not respond to a request for comment.

In August 2023, a federal grand jury also indicted Wenger — along with Amiri and Rombough — on charges of conspiracy against rights and deprivation of rights under color of law. Amiri and Wenger were each charged with one count of conspiracy “to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate residents of Antioch, California.”

In January, Rombough pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and two counts of deprivation of rights under the color of the law. As part of his plea deal with prosecutors, Rombough testified at trial last month that he and other Antioch officers used premeditated violence, failed to report uses of force and then falsified police reports to cover up those acts.

Wenger faced one count of deprivation of rights under the color of law for a specific incident: the allegedly unreasonable use of a 40-millimeter impact launcher. But on the third day of trial, Judge Jeffrey S. White announced a mistrial in Wenger’s case, due to issues regarding Wenger’s representation by attorney Nicole Castronovo.

Amiri’s trial continued without Wenger and the jury returned a split verdict in mid-March, finding him guilty of violating one person’s rights and falsifying a police report but not on the more sweeping conspiracy allegations.

“The FBI remains committed to holding accountable any officer who violates their oath and deprives citizens of their constitutional rights,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani said in a statement following that trial. “The people of Antioch and communities everywhere deserve better.”

Amiri is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3.

Wenger is scheduled to be retried on the alleged violation of civil rights charges beginning on July 21.

Because Harris’ and Rombough’s plea deals are contingent on their cooperation and testimony, both are due back in court on Aug. 19, when Wenger’s two trials are expected to be completed.

April 29: This story has been corrected to indicate that the Contra Costa County district attorney’s report from 2023 found officers exchanged texts including potential violations of civil rights, as well as messages that are racist.