Badges, Guns, and Stolen Marijuana: Podcast Revisits Emerald Triangle Police Corruption Case

Joseph Huffaker and Jacy Tatum

Years after Redheaded Blackbelt first reported on allegations that Northern California law enforcement officers were posing as federal agents to steal marijuana and cash from drivers in the Emerald Triangle (but still before either of the two officers convicted have been sentenced), a new podcast series is reporting on the case.

The three-part interview series, Heroes Behind Headlines, features former undercover officer and whistleblower Zeke Flatten, who describes how he was the victim of a scheme in December of 2017 by local cops pretending to be federal agents in order to ripoff drivers and resell the seized marijuana. Two episodes of the series have been released so far. (Click here to go to episode 1 that deals with Flatten’s interesting background as an undercover officer involved in several serious convictions.)

Former Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jacy Tatum and Officer Joseph Huffaker were convicted in connection with the conspiracy. According to court testimony during Huffaker’s trial last summer, officers stopped drivers while falsely claiming to be part of federal marijuana-enforcement operations and seized cannabis and cash for personal gain rather than as evidence. In just December of 2017, the officers stole multiple times from drivers. According to the prosecution writing in a court document, “Tatum testified at [Huffaker’s] trial that he and Defendant went out on 3-4 extortions during that month and committed 5-6 illegal marijuana seizures.”

The case drew national attention not only because of the brazen nature of the crimes but because the defendants were sworn law-enforcement officers who carried weapons and pretended to be federal agents while committing them. (Click here to go to episode 2 that deals with the details of the case that began in Humboldt, peaked with a traffic stop in Mendocino County, and led to Rohnert Park officers in Sonoma County.)

Federal prosecutors later proved in court that at least two officers (but likely more as the officer with Huffaker at the time of Flatten’s stop hasn’t been prosecuted nor have other officers named by other victims) impersonated federal agents during traffic stops, using the authority of law enforcement to seize cannabis and cash from drivers. Huffaker’s defense attorney argued in a statement to the court,

[It seems pretty clear that [Joseph Huffaker] would not have engaged in this conduct without the encouragement of his supervisor Jacy Tatum. Of course, not only should Joe have turned down Tatum’s offer to participate in the scheme to extort, but he should have immediately reported Tatum to his supervisors, including the chief of police. And in a perfect world, this should have put a stop to Jacy Tatum. But the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety was far from perfect. In fact, the way this department was run from the commander level all the way to deputy chiefs and the director/chief of police himself, it would have been akin to blowing in the wind. The evidence at trial painted a picture of a department which had basically handed its keys to Sgt. Tatum and looked the other way as to what he was doing simply because he was bringing in so much money into the city by way of asset forfeiture.”

Instead of booking the marijuana into evidence, prosecutors said, the officers resold it. The crimes were not a single incident. Evidence showed the robberies likely happened repeatedly over a period of years.

Neither of the two Rohnert Park officers has been sentenced yet in spite of the robbery of Zeke Flatten occurring in 2017–over 8 years ago. A federal court filing shows Huffaker who repeatedly changed attorneys (Flatten says he changed his attorney seven times) managed to postpone sentencing again this year until at least April 15 in order for him to again get another attorney.

Flatten, whose complaint about the robbery triggered the larger investigation, discusses the events in detail in the podcast. He discusses how reporting by Redheaded Blackbelt was later recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, which awarded publisher Kym Kemp its Unsung Hero award for coverage connected to the case.

The podcast also includes additional allegations about other law enforcement figures that have not been proven in court. In the series, Flatten alleges that one of the officers involved in the marijuana theft was Bruce Smith formerly of Mendocino County’s marijuana eradication team; that allegation has not been established in court proceedings.

Listeners interested in hearing Flatten’s account of the investigation, his law-enforcement career, and his perspective on the Emerald Triangle corruption case can find the first two episodes of the three-part series now available.

Earlier Chapters:

• Former Undercover Officer Involved in Developing Cannabis Products Accuses Hopland Tribal Police Chief of Theft, Corruption, and Civil Rights Violations
•  Outraged: One Man’s Two Month Quest From the FBI to the ATF to Expose What He Says Are Corrupt Police Officers in Mendocino County
• Rohnert Park Police Officers Being Investigated Following Two Incidents Where Humboldt County Cannabis Was Seized Under Suspicious Circumstances
• ‘Highway Robbery’: Drivers Allege Rohnert Park Police Illegally Seized Cannabis, Cash
• What Happened to 800 Pounds of Marijuana Seized by Rohnert Park Police?
• City of Rohnert Park Hires Police Practices Expert to Address Corruption Allegations
• Former Rohnert Park Police Sergeant Faces Credibility Questions as He Testifies in Court This Week
• Rohnert Park Police Officer Accused of Misconduct in Case Involving Pounds of Humboldt County Marijuana Agrees to Resign for $75,000
• City of Rohnert Park Settles for $415,000 in Lawsuit Alleging Its Officers Stole Cannabis From Travelers Just After a Second Suit Alleging More Corruption Was Filed
• Another Settlement in Case First Reported Here of Rohnert Park Officers Illegally Seizing Cash and Cannabis
• Two Rohnert Park Police Officers Named in the Case Involving Theft of Humboldt County Marijuana Indicted in Federal Court This Morning
• US Attorney’s Office Brings Charges Against Two Rohnert Park Police Officers in Story We Broke Here
• Former Sergeant and Head of a Drug Interdiction Team Pleads Guilty to Charges Resulting From Law Enforcement Officers Stealing Humboldt CO. Cannabis
• Lawsuit Alleges Members of CDFW and Mendocino County Sheriff’s Dept Conspired to Steal Marijuana, Guns, and Cash
• Cash, Guns and Cannabis Highlighted in Civil Case Amended Against Top Law Enforcement Officials in Mendocino County Last Week
• Five Years Ago This Month, Police Officers Robbed a Texas Man in Mendocino County; One Suspect Now Faces New Charges
• Two Officers Outed on This Website Now on California’s POST Decertification List
• Ex-Cop Convicted of Seizing Marijuana Illegally Faces Few Consequences for Secret Cannabis Grow, Reports KQED
• Former Rohnert Park Officer Whose Crimes Were First Reported by RHBB Convicted on All Six Counts in Cannabis Theft Case