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Ex-deputy LA mayor agrees to plead guilty to making City Hall bomb threat
Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Brian K. Williams delivers a speech during the graduation ceremony for LAPD recruit class 11-23 at the Los Angeles Police Academy in Los Angeles on May 3, 2024.
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Myung J. Chun
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
The city of Los Angeles' former deputy mayor of public safety, Brian Williams, has agreed to plead guilty to making a bomb threat against City Hall last year, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Why now: The court filing on Thursday came on the same day Williams was charged with making threats regarding fire and explosives, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
The backstory: Prosecutors say Williams falsely claimed someone had called him on Oct. 3 and threatened to bomb City Hall, setting off a search that yielded no suspicious devices. But according to prosecutors, Williams used the Google Voice application on his personal cellphone to call his work cellphone to make the threat, which he then reported to the L.A. Police Department. He then sent text messages to Mayor Karen Bass repeating the false claim. Prosecutors say he never intended to carry out the threat.
The fallout: In December, the FBI raided Williams' home in Pasadena as part of the investigation. Williams — who was named deputy mayor in 2023 and oversaw the LAPD, L.A. Fire Department and other public safety departments — was then placed on administrative leave and eventually replaced. A statement from Bass' spokesperson, Zach Seidl, on Thursday said: "Like many, we were shocked when these allegations were first made and we are saddened by this conclusion."
What's next: Williams is expected to appear in federal court in the coming weeks.
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