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A former Los Angeles deputy mayor has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge after falsely reporting a bomb threat at City Hall to law enforcement in 2024, federal prosecutors said.
Brian K. Williams, 61, of Pasadena, California, was charged with one felony count of making a fire and explosives threat, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a news release on May 22. The charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
Prosecutors said Williams made the bomb threat against City Hall in October 2024 while he was in office. At the time of the incident, he was the deputy mayor for public safety.
In December 2024, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ office said FBI agents searched the home of Williams as part of an investigation into the bomb threat. The Los Angeles Police Department said the “source of the threat was likely” from Williams.
Police said the investigation was referred to the FBI due to the department’s working relationship with Williams. Following the search, a spokesperson for Bass said Williams was immediately placed on administrative leave.
“Mr. Williams, the former deputy mayor of Public Safety for Los Angeles, not only betrayed the residents of Los Angeles, but responding officers, and the integrity of the office itself, by fabricating a bomb threat,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “Government officials are held to a heightened standard as we rely on them to safeguard the city. I’m relieved that Mr. Williams has taken responsibility for his inexplicable actions.”
Williams is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Ex-LA deputy mayor used voice application for fake bomb threat
Prosecutors did not provide a motive for the false bomb threat, but detailed Williams’ process to conceal the origin of the threat.
Williams was in a virtual meeting on Oct. 3, 2024, when he used a voice application on his cellphone to call his city-issued phone, according to the plea agreement. He then left the virtual meeting and called the chief of staff of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Williams reported to police that he had received a call from an unknown man who threatened to bomb Los Angeles City Hall, the plea agreement states. About 10 minutes later, Williams texted Bass and several other high-ranking city officials that he received the threat at about 10:48 a.m. local time.
“The male caller stated that ‘He was tired of the city support of Israel, and he has decided to place a bomb in City Hall. It might be in the rotunda,'” the text message reads. “I immediately contacted the chief of staff of LAPD, they are going to send a number of officers over to do a search of the building and to determine if anyone else received a threat.”
Police officers then searched City Hall but did not find any suspicious packages or devices, according to the plea agreement. Prosecutors said Williams later described the alleged call to police and showed them a record of the incoming call on his city phone, which appeared as a blocked number.
“In fact, Williams received no such call and had made the bomb threat himself,” prosecutors said. “In fact, that incoming call record was the call Williams had placed to himself from the Google Voice application on his personal cellphone.”
Prosecutors noted that there was no point in time at which Williams intended to carry out the threat.
Bass announced Williams’ appointment in February 2023, according to a news release. He assumed the role after a stint as the executive director of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Civilian Oversight Commission. He also previously served as the deputy mayor under former Mayor James Hahn and worked in the Office of the City Attorney as a special assistant city attorney.
Contributing: Michael Loria, USA TODAY