They would stop drivers along U.S. Highway 101 between Rohnert Park and into Mendocino County in order to extort cash and cannabis from them by threatening arrest. photo credit: Shutterstock
Two former police officers in Rohnert Park are scheduled to be federally sentenced in May for their scheme of using their power to shake down residents they pulled over and found with cannabis, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The years of their malfeasance and its scope prompted a civil grand jury report questioning law enforcement oversight in Rohnert Park and led to civil lawsuits against the city’s Department of Public Safety.
Former officers Brendan “Jacy” Tatum and Joseph Huffaker were indicted in 2021 for conspiracy to commit extortion “under control of official right.” Tatum also faced charges of falsification of records and tax evasion…