Former Los Angeles deputy mayor pleads guilty to fake bomb threat
Sentencing is scheduled to take place on Oct. 6 and he faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
In a May 22 plea agreement, the 61-year-old admitted to allegations that he fabricated a bomb threat while serving as the city's Deputy Mayor of Public Safety, and while he was at work.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Williams was participating in a virtual meeting in an official capacity when he used Google Voice to call his city-issued phone on Oct. 3, 2024.
He then called the Los Angeles Police Department, claiming that a man threatened to bomb City Hall.
Williams lied to city officials, including Mayor Karen Bass, telling them that the man who called in the threat said he was "tired of the city support of Israel," leading to a bomb being placed in City Hall's rotunda, prosecutors said. This led to an LAPD bomb investigation, where nothing was found.
Prosecutors said he then showed officers his phone records, which displayed a recent call from a blocked number. It was later revealed that the call came from his personal phone to his city-issued phone, via Google Voice.
"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," Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement.
At no time did Williams intend to carry out the threat, his plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court states.
Williams quietly retired from city government in April and before that, when the FBI began an investigation into the bomb threat, he was placed on administrative leave.
Williams was appointed as Deputy Mayor of Public Safety by Mayor Bass in February 2023. His job was to oversee the LAPD, the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Port of Los Angeles Police, the Los Angeles World Airport Police, and the Emergency Management Department.
"Williams will also work closely across the administration and city departments to increase public safety, advance prevention and intervention strategies, implement department reforms," Mayor of Karen Bass wrote on the official website of the City of Los Angeles at the time of his appointment.
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