Ex-cops who posed as federal agents to extort marijuana get up to 30 months in prison

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — Two former California police officers who posed as federal agents to extort marijuana from drivers and then lied to investigators to cover up the crimes were sentenced to a combined 50 months in prison Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney sentenced former Rohnert Park police officer Brendan Jacy Tatum to 30 months, while co-defendant and fellow ex-police officer Joseph Huffaker got 20 months.

The case centers on a scheme prosecutors say began after California voters approved Proposition 64 in 2016, legalizing recreational marijuana and ending a lucrative drug interdiction program that had been a source of pride for the small police department about an hour north of San Francisco.

After the program was shut down, Tatum continued seizing marijuana but began selling the drug, pocketing the profits and creating false police reports to cover his actions. Huffaker joined the scheme in late 2017.

The officers would drive far outside their jurisdiction in an unmarked vehicle, dressed in generic tactical gear without badges and pull over drivers they suspected of carrying large amounts of cannabis. They would then falsely claim to be agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and threaten arrest if drivers refused to hand over their marijuana.

Tatum, 44, pleaded guilty to charges of extorting marijuana and obstructing justice in 2021 in exchange for cooperating with federal investigators. He testified as a cooperating witness during Huffaker’s trial.

Huffaker, 41, was convicted on six counts after a weeklong trial last July. The charges included conspiracy to commit extortion, impersonating a federal officer and falsifying records in a federal investigation.

The government initially sought more than a five-year sentence for Huffaker but Chesney ordered his sentencing to be rescheduled until after Tatum’s.

“My concern is that the government has essentially gotten someone to cooperate down, not up,” the Bill Clinton appointee said. “It is undisputed [Tatum] engaged in the behavior alleged here for a considerable amount of time before Huffaker.”

On Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Abe Fine said Tatum was a “corrupt police officer” whose conduct eroded the public’s trust in law enforcement.

The government sought a sentence of 46 months for Tatum while the probation office recommended two years. Tatum asked for 18 months of home detention alongside community service hours.

Fine said the government’s recommended sentence weighed the seriousness of Tatum’s conduct and the abuse of public trust with his cooperation in the case. He added that Tatum aided in the government’s prosecution, including testifying for three days during trial, and providing information about obstruction of justice the government was previously not aware of.

“It is rare for a police officer to cooperate against another police officer. It is important that that cooperation is incentivized,” Fine said.

Tatum’s attorney, Stuart Hanlon, told the court that Tatum should benefit from his cooperation with the government versus Huffaker, who, Hanlon says, didn’t cooperate and stretched the case through a lengthy trial process.

He additionally questioned the purpose of incarcerating Tatum at this point, arguing that Tatum has successfully rehabilitated since the crime occurred, including reconnecting with his family, maintaining a job as a firefighter and paying restitution.

But Fine said it send a bad message “for someone who was a corrupt police officer, stole lots of dollars and lied, to not be punished with prison time.” He repeated the same general reasoning during Huffaker’s sentencing, adding that the difference between the two was that Huffaker had a “complete lack of responsibility and lack of remorse.”

“When he was charged, he fought the case, every step of the way. When you have a corrupt police officer who lies, takes a case all the way to trial, the standpoint can’t be you don’t get a custodial sentence,” Fine said.

The government requested a 40-month sentence for Huffaker, 23 months less than the sentence they previously sought. The probation officer recommended Huffaker receive the same two-year sentence as Tatum, while Huffaker asked the court for three years of probation, with one year of home confinement and 500 hours of community service.

Karen Landau, Huffaker’s attorney, disputed the accusation that Huffaker had not accepted responsibility for his actions while emphasizing Huffaker’s involvement in Tatum’s scheme only lasted two weeks.

Chesney acknowledged the positive impact she believed both Tatum and Huffaker had as law enforcement officers, and praised them for finding beneficial work in the years since. However, she told both defendants she could not forgive their past conduct.

“This is not a mistake; this is a decision to engage in repetitive criminal behavior,” she said to Tatum.

“One can’t really just say ‘well now I am on the straight and narrow. You made a decision to engage in behavior for a period of time,” she told Huffaker.

Tatum apologized when speaking to the court before he was sentenced.

“I am reminded daily of what I caused. I let my community, profession, and family down. I am truly sorry I made those choices,” he said. “When I pleaded guilty five years ago, I accepted responsibility for my actions. Since then, I have worked every day to live differently.”

In the same vein, Huffaker said he was “deeply sorry” for his actions, saying “I will spend the rest of my life being and doing better … I hope you can see the person who I am versus the person who I was."

Tatum will be additionally required to pay $301,145 in restitution, while Huffaker faces $20,000 in restitution.

Tatum will surrender in January 2027, taking into consideration fire season in California, while Huffaker will surrender in September.

Following the hearing, Hanlon said he didn’t believe Tatum deserved 30 months in prison and that the judge could have imposed a lesser sentence. Landau declined to comment.

A representative for the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Speaking to Courthouse News after the hearings, Hue Freeman, a marijuana farmer who had 47 pounds of marijuana worth $1,500 per pound stolen from him by Tatum and Huffaker, said he believed Huffaker got off very easy, describing his involvement with Tatum as an “equal partner.”

“Although I’m okay with the sentence that Tatum got, especially in light of the fact that he did turn, I’m really disappointed in Huffaker’s sentence. He’s never taken accountability,” he said.

Ann-Marie Borges, another marijuana grower who says she was robbed of her legal marijuana in 2017 by two law enforcement officers from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and California Fish and Wildlife, said the case against Huffaker and Tatum was the tip of the iceberg.

“They can say that these two guys were the reason. And the whole thing is, I would say, a quarter inch down into the true story,” she said.

Borges added that she had a strenuous relationship with law enforcement as a result of the seizures.

“If something happens to me, I have to call the FBI, my agent, and tell him what just happened to me. He tells me to call 911; I’m not calling the people that rob me,” she said.

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