Latest news with #BrianKWilliams
CBS News
16-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Former Los Angeles deputy mayor pleads guilty to fake bomb threat
Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Brian K. Williams pleaded guilty on Monday to a felony charge of threats regarding fire and explosives involving a fake phoned-in bomb threat to City Hall last year. 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.
Daily Mail
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Deputy mayor of deep blue city faces 10-years in prison after PLEADING GUILTY to an abhorrent act
A former Los Angeles deputy mayor pleaded guilty to reporting an anti-Israel bomb threat on city hall last year. Brian K. Williams, 61, who was employed as the deputy mayor of public safety in October 2024, was charged with one felony count of making an explosives threat. He was hand-picked for the role by woke Mayor Karen Bass in February 2023 and given significant public safety responsibility, including oversight of the city's fire and police departments. Williams sent a text message to Bass and other high-ranking city officials on October 3, 2024, that he just received a call from someone who threatened to bomb city hall, prosecutors said. 'The male caller stated that "he was tired of the city's support of Israel, and he has decided to place a bomb in City Hall. It might be in the rotunda,"' Williams wrote in the text. He said he contacted the Los Angeles Police Department, who sent officers to search the building but did not locate any suspicious packages or devices. Williams showed officers a call he received from a blocked number on his city-issued cellphone that he said was from the person who made the bomb threat. The call was made by Williams himself through the Google Voice application on his personal phone, according to prosecutors. The Los Angeles Police Department investigated the threat after it was first reported and determined that Williams was 'likely' the source of the threat. He was placed on administrative leave over the bomb threat less than three weeks before the deadly LA fires in January. Agents searched Williams' home on December 17 after an investigation allegedly determined he made the September bomb threat against City Hall. Bass, whose spokesperson claimed she took the 'matter very seriously', quickly issued a statement after the raid, saying: 'My number one job is to keep Angelenos safe. 'The only way to do that is to hold people who commit crimes accountable and to take real steps to prevent crime from happening in the first place.' Williams' lawyer, Dmitry Gorin, told the Los Angeles Times that his client 'has demonstrated his unreserved and full acceptance of responsibility for his actions.' 'This aberrational incident was the product of personal issues which Mr. Williams is addressing appropriately, and is not representative of his character or dedication to the city of Los Angeles,' Gorin said. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and is expected to make his initial court appearance in the next few weeks. 'In an era of heated political rhetoric that has sometimes escalated into violence, we cannot allow public officials to make bomb threats,' said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. 'My office will continue its efforts to keep the public safe, including from those who violate their duty to uphold the law.'
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Former L.A. deputy mayor of public safety to plead guilty to fake bomb threat
A former Los Angeles deputy mayor of public safety has agreed to plead guilty to making a fake bomb threat to City Hall for which he sought to blame a fabricated anti-Israel actor, federal prosecutors said. Brian K. Williams, 61, will admit to a single count of threats regarding fire and explosives and could face a maximum of 10 years in prison, according to a plea agreement filed Thursday.
New York Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Agrees to Plead Guilty in Bomb Threat Case
A former Los Angeles official agreed Thursday to plead guilty to a felony charge after fabricating a bomb threat against the City Hall he was hired to protect as the deputy mayor of public safety. Brian K. Williams, 61, who rose from the city attorney's office to become a deputy in two mayoral administrations, admitted in a plea deal that he had concocted a bomb threat and called it in to City Hall last October, the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said in a statement. Under the terms of the deal, the statement said, Mr. Williams — who oversaw public safety for Mayor Karen Bass until she put him on administrative leave in December — has agreed to plead guilty to a single felony charge of 'information with threats regarding fire and explosives.' 'In an era of heated political rhetoric that has sometimes escalated into violence, we cannot allow public officials to make bomb threats,' said Bill Essayli, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. At Los Angeles City Hall, where Mr. Williams had been considered by colleagues a steady and affable presence, a spokesman for Mayor Bass expressed disappointment. 'Like many, we were shocked when these allegations were first made and we are saddened by this conclusion,' Zach Seidl, the spokesman, said. During the January fires that devastated Los Angeles, supporters of the mayor widely blamed her initial absence on the lack of a strong public safety adviser, who might have briefed her more fully than the fire chief, whom she later demoted. Federal prosecutors did not offer a motive, but Mr. Williams's plea agreement outlined an elaborate process that he had used to hide the origin of the bomb threat, which was reported on Oct. 3. At the time the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israelis was approaching, and rallies and demonstrations protesting Israel's devastating retaliatory strikes on Gaza were disrupting major cities around the world. According to the plea agreement, Mr. Williams, while participating in a virtual morning meeting, used a voice application on his personal cellphone to call his city phone. He then called the Los Angeles Police Department to say that an unknown man had just threatened to bomb City Hall. Ten minutes later, federal prosecutors said, he texted the mayor's office: 'Bomb threat: I received phone call on my city cell at 10:48 am this morning. 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 Los Angeles Police Department quickly determined that there was no immediate danger, officials said. Later, prosecutors said, Mr. Williams showed the police a record of the incoming call on his city phone, which appeared as a blocked number. 'In fact, that incoming call record was the call Williams had placed to himself from the Google Voice application on his personal cellphone,' federal officials said. Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Los Angeles field office, said in a statement that Mr. Williams had 'not only betrayed the residents of Los Angeles, but responding officers, and the integrity of the office itself.' Lawyers for Mr. Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials said that the charge to which Mr. Williams is expected to plead guilty carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. He is expected to make his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles 'in the coming weeks,' prosecutors said. Mr. Williams, a resident of Pasadena, has served for more than a quarter-century in local government in Los Angeles, including as an assistant city attorney for several years before he was appointed as a deputy mayor for Mayor James K. Hahn, who held office from 2001 to 2005. Mr. Williams went on to hold a variety of civic posts, including president of Junior Achievement of Southern California, a major nonprofit focusing on financial literacy for children, and executive director of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission. Appointed to the Bass administration in 2023, he oversaw the Fire Department, the Police Department, the Los Angeles World Airport Police and the Emergency Management Department. He has been on administrative leave since December, when the F.B.I., which had taken over the case from the Los Angeles police because of the department's working relationship with Mr. Williams, searched his Pasadena home.
The Independent
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Ex-Los Angeles deputy mayor will plead guilty in fake bomb threat to city hall
A former Los Angeles deputy mayor will plead guilty to reporting a bomb had been placed in city hall last year to law enforcement, federal prosecutors said Thursday. Brian K. Williams, 31, who was employed as the deputy mayor of public safety in October 2024, was charged with one felony count of making an explosives threat. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. William's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Williams sent a text message to LA Mayor Karen Bass and other high-ranking city officials on Oct. 3, 2024 that he just received a call from someone who threatened to bomb city hall, prosecutors said. '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.',' Williams wrote in the text, according to prosecutors. He said he contacted the Los Angeles Police Department, who sent officers to search the building. Police did not locate any suspicious packages or devices, prosecutors said. Williams showed officers a call he received from a blocked number on his city-issued cellphone that he said was from the person who made the bomb threat. The call was made by Williams himself through the Google Voice application on his personal phone, according to prosecutors. The Federal Bureau of Investigation searched Williams' home in December 2024 in connection to the incident, and Williams was placed on administrative leave. Williams will appear in federal court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
