Former Antioch Cop Is Guilty of Planning to Distribute Steroids and Destroying Evidence

A federal jury on Wednesday afternoon found a former Antioch police officer guilty of conspiring to distribute synthetic steroids and then destroying evidence of it while the FBI was at his door.

The jury deliberated for just under three hours before convicting Devon Wenger of one count each of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids as well as destruction, alteration and falsification of records in a federal investigation. He faces up to 30 years in prison.

As the verdicts were read, Wenger — who has been free on bond — leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on his legs with his hands held together. His mother sat in the first row of the gallery behind him, shaking her head.

District Judge Jeffrey White ruled that Wenger, who now lives in Florida, will not immediately be taken into custody because the U.S. Marshals Service is not prepared to “make provisions for [Wenger’s] safety as a former police officer.”

Wenger is also one of three Antioch officers who were indicted on charges that they conspired to deprive people of their civil rights by subjecting them to excessive force. Eric Rombough pleaded guilty this year in exchange for his testimony against Morteza Amiri and Wenger. A jury found Amiri guilty of violating one person’s rights and falsifying a police report, but not of the larger conspiracy.

Wenger’s case on similar charges ended in a mistrial last month, but he’s scheduled to be retried later this summer.

On Wednesday morning, White instructed jurors in the steroids case that it didn’t matter how much or for how long Wenger agreed to distribute the illicit drugs from fellow former Antioch officer Daniel Harris — or that the deal went through — only that there was an agreement.

Before deliberating just after 10 a.m., jurors were also instructed that it didn’t matter whether or not Wenger knew he was the subject of a federal investigation, only that the matter of drugs made in a clandestine lab falls within the federal government’s jurisdiction.

Harris, the government’s key witness, testified Monday that he bought various anabolic steroids and other drugs from a supplier in Florida and then sold them to current and former law enforcement across the country, including to fellow officers in Antioch and other East Bay departments. He said that in March 2022, Wenger gave Harris’ phone number to Brendon Mahoney, who Wenger knew from training in the U.S. Army Special Forces and wanted to buy testosterone.

Prosecutors said Wenger texted with both of them to get the steroids from the Florida lab to Harris’ address in Discovery Bay.

“…get ready to become super human!” Wenger allegedly texted Mahoney, according to messages retrieved from Wenger’s phone using forensic recovery software and shown to the jury during closing arguments.

Instead, federal authorities intercepted the package in the mail.

“For this offense, the agreement is the crime. It doesn’t matter if the distribution didn’t happen. Just the agreement is enough,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ajay Krishnamurthy said in his closing argument.

Harris testified that Wenger first started using steroids in January 2022, when both he and Harris were working as Antioch police, although Harris was on medical leave while training to be a competitive bodybuilder.

“I’m tired of being lean. I just want to be a fucking animal,” Wenger texted Harris.

“Well you are an animal. We can just make you a bigger more vascular animal. Lol,” Harris replied.

A year later, Antioch police were embroiled in a scandal involving racist texts and memes about citizens and city officials that were exchanged by more than half of the department, but no one reported it to the appropriate authorities. A federal investigation into the texts led to charges against multiple officers.

In his current trial, federal prosecutors alleged that when FBI agents went to Wenger’s home in 2022 with a warrant to seize his phone, he deleted key information, including texts about steroids, Harris’ number and contact from Venmo, the financial app used to pay for the shipments.

“Wenger was a trained police officer. He knew how controlled substance investigations work. He also knew he committed a crime,” Krishnamurthy told jurors.

Dena Marie Young, Wenger’s attorney, wanted jurors to weigh the prosecution’s evidence carefully, including what texts were missing from the government’s attempts to retrieve them.

“What we have left are a series of messages that have been put back together by the government and are being interpreted by the government in a way that best suits their case,” Young said.

She painted Harris as a self-serving drug dealer and said Wenger’s involvement in any transaction between Harris and Mahoney was “just a friend doing a friend a favor.”

Young also highlighted how the FBI attempted to retrieve Wenger’s phone from him by sending a SWAT team to his door, saying it was a “dog and pony show” meant to intimidate Wenger, who wasn’t even at his residence when authorities showed up looking for him.

“The reality is, they didn’t even check to see if he was home,” Young said.

Walking with Wenger outside the courtroom, Young declined to comment on behalf of the former officer.

“We have to respect the decision of the jury,” Young told reporters.

Wenger is due back in court on Tuesday for a scheduling conference for his other outstanding criminal trial and whether he should be held in custody before his sentencing hearing, which White said will occur when both cases have concluded.

KQED’s Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.