A former Los Angeles deputy mayor reported to city officials last year that a stranger called and made a bomb threat over city support for Israel, warning an explosive was inside city hall, federal prosecutors said.
But Brian K. Williams, the then-deputy mayor of public safety for Los Angeles, called the threat, which was fake, “after he became overwhelmed with stress and anxiety and desperate to get out of an ongoing meeting,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum for Williams.
Williams, of Pasadena, pleaded guilty to threats regarding fire and explosives, a felony, on June 16, court records show.
Now, Williams has avoided a prison sentence, The Los Angeles Times reported. On October 6, he was sentenced to one year of probation and 50 hours of community service.
His defense attorneys did not immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment.
While attending a virtual work meeting inside City Hall on October 3, 2024, Williams used the Google Voice application to make a call to his phone issued by the city, according to prosecutors.
Then he left the meeting and called the chief of staff for the Los Angeles Police Department, claiming a man he did not know had called him, threatening to bomb the city hall building, prosecutors said.
About 10 minutes afterward, prosecutors said Williams texted Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other city officials to warn about the bomb threat, suggesting the explosive was possibly in the city hall rotunda.
He texted them, according to prosecutors, saying:
“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.’”
LAPD officers searched the building, but no bomb was found, according to prosecutors.
Following the police response, Williams sent another text to Bass and city officials, in which prosecutors said he wrote:
“At this time, there is no need for us to evacuate the building, I’m meeting with the threat management officers within the next 10 minutes. In light of the Jewish holidays, we are taking this thread, a little more seriously. I will keep you posted.”
In court, Williams told the judge that he had been struggling with his mental health before making the fake threat, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors sought a sentence of two years probation and 100 hours of community service for Williams, according to court documents.
Williams not politically-motivated
“False threats like the one defendant placed undermine public safety both by diverting police resources and by creating a frightening and potentially dangerous environment in which police respond to a purported emergency in a crowded building,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo.
They acknowledged, however, that Williams was not motivated “by a political agenda or violent extremist ideology, but rather by (his) acute personal stress and anxiety due to numerous factors.”
Williams became Los Angeles’ deputy mayor of public safety in February 2023, CBS Los Angeles reported. He was put on administrative leave in connection with the bomb threat hoax.
In April, Bass appointed former FBI agent Robert Clark to replace Williams. In the position, Clark supervises the LAPD, the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Emergency Management Department, the Los Angeles Port Police and the Los Angeles Airport Police, according to the Los Angeles Sentinel.
As part of his sentence, Williams was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, according to CBS Los Angeles.