Antioch cops’ racist texts strike again: DA dismisses charges against two accused of mutilating a corpse in extremely suspicious incident

ANTIOCH — Weeks after conceding that Antioch police had violated the Racial Justice Act with officers’ text messages containing racial slurs and other offensive communications, the Contra Costa District Attorney says it can no longer prosecute two men who were investigated by impugned officers on charges that they mutilated the body of a 25-year-old woman. As such, county prosecutors on Wednesday dismissed felony arson and mutilation of a corpse charges against Ashton Montalvo, 33, and Deangelo Boone, 42. The two men were charged with setting fire to the body of and leaving it in a garbage can along an Antioch trail.

A news release by the DA’s office says that the investigation “relied heavily” on officers whose conclusions cannot be trusted in light of the revelations about officers’ racist texts. At least eight of the impugned officers were involved in the investigation, authorities say. “After thoroughly reviewing the officers’ role in this case, applying relevant legal principles, and considering ethical responsibilities, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office no longer has confidence in the integrity of this prosecution,” the news release says.

It is only the latest recent instance where felony charges were dismissed over an Antioch officer’s racism, dishonesty, alleged criminality, or all of the above. Since early 2022, at least 10 current or former Antioch officers — along with another three from Pittsburg — have been under investigation by the DA and FBI for alleged civil rights violations, drug distribution, fraud, obstruction of justice and other crimes. During that investigation, authorities uncovered , slurs, and other horrific language, including jokes about hurting Black people during arrests and wanting to shoot the city’s mayor with a less-lethal weapon.

The intertwined scandals have led to dozens of cases being dismissed in federal and state court. On top of that, the DA and Public Defender offices have pledged to investigate potentially thousands of cases, including old convictions as well as active charges, involving the impugned Antioch officers. accused of murder and attempted murder are set to go before a judge and ask their charges be dismissed because two of them were specifically referenced in some of the racist texts.

In all, 44 Antioch police officers, a list that includes detectives, K9 officers and superiors and represents nearly half of the department, were named in two reports compiled by a senior DA inspector as having sent or received the offensive messages. In Sharlman’s case, county prosecutors say they hope to be able to refile charges, but doing so may require them to re-create the police investigation using their own detectives. Sharlman’s badly burned body was discovered around 5:30 a.

m. on Oct. 17, 2022, in a trash can on Mokelumne trail north of Lopez Drive.

Police assumed she’d been murdered, and Boone and Montalvo were initially investigated as possible homicide suspects. But when Sharlman’s autopsy ruled out homicide, the two were charged simply with attempting to get rid of her corpse. .