OAKLAND >> Eric Rombough, the former Antioch police officer at the forefront of a massive law enforcement corruption scandal involving more than a dozen cops, has pleaded guilty in a deal with federal prosecutors.

Rombough admitted to conspiring with several other Antioch officers to “injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate” the people of the city they were supposed to serve. Before a federal judge Tuesday afternoon, Rombough pleaded guilty to three charges — one count of conspiracy against rights and two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law.

“I’m here to accept responsibility for what I’ve done and what I’ve been charged with,” Rombough said in court.

Rombough was one of 14 former East Contra Costa cops charged in a federal and state investigation that began in 2023. Multiple indictments in federal and Contra Costa courts accused various officers of crimes ranging from illegal violence to bribery, fraudulently obtaining incentive pay, possessing illegal firearms, steroid distribution and interfering with a wiretap of a violent Oakland gang.

A proffer by the government, which Rombough agreed was accurate, says that he conspired with two colleagues, ex-Officers Devon Wenger and Morteza Amiri — but also with “other APD officers” — to deprive Antioch residents of their rights. The conspiracy involved pre-planning violence, falsifying police reports and failing to report uses of force.

Amiri and Wenger have pleaded not guilty and are set for trial in late March, court records show. The judge who took Rombough’s plea, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, recently denied attempts by Wenger to dismiss the case on claims that Wenger faced retaliation for turning in another officer who used a private police database to obtain information about an ex-girlfriend Wenger was dating.

The plea agreement includes a provision that Rombough could receive a lesser sentence by cooperating with federal prosecutors. Rather than set a sentencing date, the court scheduled a status conference for after Rombough’s two co-defendants are set to go to trial.

Rombough was at the forefront of related scandals that have cast a shadow over the Antioch Police Department since FBI raids targeted several East Contra Costa officers in 2022.

Out of 14 ex-Antioch and Pittsburg officers charged last year, he was one of four accused of crimes involving force or violence. He also frequently was mentioned in lengthy reports on Antioch officers who exchanged racist, sexist and homophobic communications, including one where he referred to the former police chief, a Black person, as a “gorilla.”

The criminal conspiracy included incidents where officers planned to hurt people. Rombough sent texts that said things like, “I’ll 40 a few this week,” referring to firing less-lethal 40 mm projectiles, prosecutors said in court. When Wenger broke a “young female subject’s” arm, he justified it by telling other co-conspirators that the “(expletive) wouldn’t do what I said,” the proffer states.

Amiri relayed that his wife would bake cookies for officers who hurt people and referred to dog bites by his K-9 partner as “the real punishment,” contrasted by Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton’s policies, prosecutors said. He was proud his dog bit the most people of any K-9 unit in town, the proffer says.

Prosecutors also specifically referenced incidents where Rombough shot people with the less-lethal gun, including a 2021 incident that was found to be within policy by Antioch police administrators at the time. In one instance, Rombough falsely claimed a homeless man was reaching for a bottle; in another, he did not report kicking a man in the head, despite comparing it to kicking a field goal in a text to colleagues, prosecutors said.

The government’s proffer also says Rombough collected trophies from his violence, labeling and collecting less-lethal rubber rounds from a projectile to stand in as stars on an American flag model above a mantle in his Solano County home.

Before the hearing’s end, White asked Rombough to explain, in his own words, what he did wrong.

“Operating as a police officer, I used my authority to injure and intimidate people under the color of authority,” Rombough replied.