A former San Francisco Bay Area police officer was found guilty in federal court Friday for posing as a federal agent, extortion and other charges in connection with a scheme to steal cannabis and money from drivers during traffic stops.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced that a jury convicted 40-year-old Joseph Huffaker, a former officer of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, following a one-week trial.

Huffaker was found guilty of six counts to commit extortion, extortion, conspiracy to falsify records in a federal investigation and falsifying records in a federal investigation, along with conspiracy to impersonate a federal officer and impersonating a federal officer.

Court documents said Huffaker and another former police officer, Brendan Jacy Tatum, were involved in a scheme where they pulled over drivers suspected of possessing “significant amounts” of cannabis. The officers would falsely claim to be agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to extort the cannabis and threaten to arrest the drivers if they objected.

“No traffic stop should turn into a shakedown,” Northern California U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said in a statement. “Huffaker’s actions threw a shadow of suspicion over multiple law enforcement agencies which, thankfully, were quick to investigate and discover his scheme.”

Prosecutors said the department previously ran an interdiction team between 2014 and 2017 that pulled over drivers on Highway 101 between Cloverdale and Rohnert Park in Sonoma County in an effort to seize illegal drugs.

In Dec. 2017, nearly a year after the team was disbanded, Huffaker and Tatum conducted stops and extorted cannabis from those they pulled over, saying they would seize property and at times threatening arrest, according to prosecutors. The seizures would take place while the officers were off-duty and not wearing uniforms or body-worn cameras.

Prosecutors said the jury found the scheme included a traffic stop on Dec. 18, 2017 when Huffaker and Tatum falsely claimed to be ATF agents, seizing 23 pounds of cannabis.

About two months later, the FBI received a complaint from a citizen claiming to have been “shaken down” by officers on the highway, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

After an FBI agent asked Tatum for the police report, prosecutors said Tatum and Huffaker falsified a report about the Dec. 18 traffic stop.

“Joseph Huffaker betrayed the sworn oath he took as a police officer and used his position to extort money and marijuana from drivers under the guise of legitimate law enforcement,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani said. “Crimes like these damage the public’s confidence in law enforcement.  Huffaker dishonored the oath every officer takes when he committed these crimes.”

Tatum pled guilty in Dec. 2021 to conspiracy, falsifying records and tax evasion in connection with the scheme. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sep 3.

Huffaker is currently released on bond ahead of a sentencing hearing on Oct. 15.

Prosecutors said he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 on each count of conspiracy to commit extortion, extortion and falsifying records. He also faces up to five years in prison, supervised release and fines on the conspiracy to falsify records and conspiracy to impersonate a federal officer counts, along with up to three years in prison on the impersonating a federal officer count.

• Rohnert Park
• Cloverdale
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
• Highway 101
• Cannabis
• Sonoma County