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LOS ANGELES (CN) — A former Los Angeles deputy mayor of public safety was sentenced to one year of probation on Monday after calling in a fake bomb threat to City Hall last year over the city’s purported support for Israel.
Brian Williams, 62, expressed remorse at his sentencing hearing in downtown LA, explaining that he had been under extreme stress during the prior 18 months because of several illnesses and deaths in his family, including the death of his mother.
“I’m devastated by what occurred,” Williams told U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner. “I’m broken, and I look forward to being put back together again.”
Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in LA had not asked for prison time, and the judge agreed that Williams’ conduct had been an aberration.
Last October, Williams called in the threat while at work at City Hall after he had become overwhelmed with stress and anxiety and was desperate to get out of an ongoing meeting, the prosecution said in its sentencing memorandum.
Prosecutors said he falsely reported to a senior leader at the Los Angeles Police Department, to the mayor and senior officials in the mayor’s office that an unknown man had called and said he had placed a bomb in City Hall because “he was tired of the city support of Israel.” LAPD sent officers to search City Hall in response to the fake threat and found nothing.
Williams pleaded guilty in June.
At Monday’s hearing, Williams’ attorney Dmitry Gorin argued that his client’s behavior wasn’t motivated by any political beliefs but by undiagnosed mental issues that caused him to have a breakdown during a meeting.
Williams, a former prosecutor who was likely to be disbarred as a result of his conviction, had demonstrated his commitment to public service and helping others throughout his career, that attorney told the judge.
“Mr. Williams is the perfect candidate for probation,” Gorin told the judge.
According to Williams’ plea agreement, he participated in a virtual meeting in October of last year while he was serving as deputy mayor. During this meeting, he used his personal cellphone to make a call to his city-issued cellphone.
Williams then left the virtual meeting and called the chief of staff of the LAPD and claimed he had just received a call on his work phone from an unknown man who threatened to bomb Los Angeles City Hall.
About 10 minutes later, Williams sent a text message to the mayor and several high-ranking city officials in the mayor’s office, telling them he had received a bomb threat.
“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 said in the text. “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.”
When police searched the building, they didn’t find any suspicious packages or devices. Williams showed them the record of an incoming call that appeared as a blocked number on his city-issued cellphone and told them it was the unknown man who conveyed the threat.
In fact, that incoming call record was the call Williams had placed to himself from the Google Voice application on his personal cellphone, according to federal prosecutors. At no time did Williams intend to carry out the threat.
He sent additional text messages to the mayor saying there was no need to evacuate City Hall.
“I’m meeting with the threat management officers within the next 10 minutes,” he said in a follow-up text. “In light of the Jewish holidays, we are taking this thread, a little more seriously. I will keep you posted.”
An attorney for Williams didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the plea agreement.
Williams has held a variety of government positions spanning more than three decades, the Los Angeles Times reported. He spent nearly two years as a deputy mayor in Mayor Karen Bass’ office, working on issues such as police hiring, public safety spending and the search for a new police chief.
The UCLA School of Law graduate also served as deputy mayor in the administration of former Mayor James Hahn, the LA Times said. Before that, according to the newspaper, Williams spent several years as an assistant city attorney in Los Angeles.
On his LinkedIn page, Williams also lists that he was the executive director of the LA County Civilian Oversight Commission from 2016 to 2023.
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