SAN FRANCISCO - Former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker, 41, of Rohnert Park, California, was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison, and Brendon Jacy Tatum, 43, of Santa Rosa, California, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, for their roles in a marijuana extortion scheme, impersonation of federal agents, and obstruction of justice. Senior U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney handed down the sentences on May 6, 2026.

At the conclusion of a week-long trial in July 2025, a federal jury convicted Huffaker on six counts of extortion under color of official right, falsifying records in a federal investigation, impersonating a federal officer, and conspiracy to commit those offenses. Tatum pled guilty in December 2021 to conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, falsifying records in a federal investigation, and tax evasion, and testified as a witness at Huffaker's trial. According to court documents and the evidence presented at trial, Huffaker and Tatum were both employed between 2012 and 2019 with the City of Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety (RPDPS) as police officers. The jury found that Huffaker and Tatum conspired to pull over drivers they suspected of possessing significant amounts of marijuana and extorted their marijuana by falsely claiming to be ATF agents and threatening to arrest drivers if they contested seizures of their property. The jury also found that Huffaker and Tatum conspired to obstruct justice by creating a false police report two months after their extortions and sending that report to the FBI.

According to court documents and the evidence presented at trial, RPDPS previously operated an interdiction team between 2014 and early 2017 that conducted traffic stops on vehicles along Highway 101 between Cloverdale and Rohnert Park in an effort to seize illegal drugs. In December of 2017, 11 months after the interdiction team had been disbanded, Huffaker and Tatum extorted significant quantities of marijuana from individuals, declaring to the individuals that they were ATF agents, that their property would be seized, and at times threatening to arrest and charge them. After extorting the marijuana, Huffaker and Tatum sold it for personal profit. These seizures occurred while the officers were not on duty and not wearing their uniforms or body-worn cameras.

In February 2018, the FBI received a complaint from a citizen who claimed to have been shaken down by police officers on the highway and an FBI agent asked Tatum for the police report related to the incident. Thereafter, the jury found that Huffaker and Tatum falsified a police Incident/Investigation Report regarding an unlawful December 18 traffic stop and marijuana seizure. Tatum then forwarded both the falsified press release and report to an FBI agent who was investigating the stop.

In addition to engaging in the extortion and obstruction of justice conspiracies with Huffaker in 2017 and 2018, Tatum admitted in his plea agreement that he engaged in additional criminal conduct. Specifically, Tatum admitted that in 2015 and 2016, he stole marijuana from the Rohnert Park police station, extorted marijuana from drivers on Highway 101, sold marijuana for personal profit, and committed tax evasion, netting himself over $400,000 in illicit proceeds.

United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian, FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo, and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Oakland Field Office Special Agent in Charge Linda Nguyen made the announcement.

In addition to the prison terms, Judge Chesney also sentenced Huffaker and Tatum to a three-year period of supervised release and ordered restitution in the amount of $301,145.70 for Tatum and $20,000 for Huffaker. Huffaker will begin serving his sentence on September 15, 2026, and Tatum will begin serving his sentence on January 11, 2027.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abraham Fine, Benjamin Kleinman, and Cynthia Frey are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Veronica Hernandez, Amala James, and Janice Pagsanjan. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the IRS-CI.