Multiple Oakland Police Department officers indicted on federal conspiracy charges to defraud FAA

Two Oakland Police Department officers with the agency’s helicopter unit were arraigned Thursday on several federal charges, including fraud and conspiring to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration.

Brandon Mart and David Mac pleaded not guilty during their first appearance in an Oakland federal courtroom on the charges, which were previously handed down in an indictment by a federal grand jury and were unsealed during Thursday’s hearing.

Along with the conspiracy charge, Mart faces three counts of FAA registration fraud, as well as two charges of obstruction of justice by falsification of records. The most serious of those charges carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Mac faces two counts, including the conspiracy charge and a single count of FAA registration fraud. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted on the most serious charge.

A third person, William Miller, also was indicted on the conspiracy charge, as well as four counts of FAA registration fraud. He faces up to five years in prison the most serious charge.

It was not immediately clear who Miller worked for, or whether he also was a law enforcement officer. His attorney declined to comment after Thursday’s hearing.

The indictments mark at least the third time in the last couple weeks that an Oakland Police Department employee has faced criminal charges. In late August, Alameda County prosecutors charged Kevin Arias — an Oakland police sergeant who has occasionally served as an acting lieutenant — with grand theft of personal property amid claims he logged $38,000 in hours that he didn’t actually work.

The indictments come less than three weeks before a key — and perhaps final — hearing in the Oakland Police Department’s bid to end more than two decades of federal court oversight that began with the infamous Riders scandal in the early 2000s.

In May, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick, who said the department was on track to move out of from under federal court oversight that has hounded the agency since 2003. He framed a Sept. 29 court date as a chance to double-check the department’s compliance with dozens of reforms it has completed over the years, at which time the agency could finally be released from his control.

“No one can say ‘Mission accomplished,’‌ ” said Orrick said, at the May court hearing. “But I do congratulate the city and OPD on getting this far.”

Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at [email protected].