A former Los Angeles deputy mayor — tasked with overseeing public safety — has agreed to plead guilty to faking an anti-Israel bomb threat on city hall last year.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced the forthcoming plea this week after Brian K. Williams, 61, was charged with a single felony count of making an explosives threat, which could carry a ten-year prison term.
Prosecutors say Williams sent a text message to Mayor Karen 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, writing “it might be in the rotunda.” Williams said in his text message:
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.” 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.
The call actually was made by Williams himself through the Google Voice application on his personal phone, according to prosecutors.
Mayor Bass handpicked Williams in 2023 and gave him responsibilities that included oversight of the city’s police and fire departments.
The fabricated threat was three months before the Los Angeles-area fires in January that ravaged its beaches, destroyed thousands of homes, and resulted in the deaths of 30 people.
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Critics have argued that both Mayor Bass and the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) were unprepared for the blazes.
It’s unclear what Williams’s role was with LAFD in the week before the disaster when forecasts were predicting gale-force winds and dry conditions — the ideal combination for a massive firestorm.
Williams is expected to make his initial appearance in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
Prosecutors say his actions were particularly egregious in today’s political climate due to the Israeli-Hamas war.
“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.”
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“Mr. Williams…not only betrayed the residents of Los Angeles, but responding officers, and the integrity of the office itself, by fabricating a bomb threat,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “Government officials are held to a heightened standard as we rely on them to safeguard the city.”
Prosecutors did not cite a motive for the bomb threat, though Davis said he was “relieved that Mr. Williams has taken responsibility for his inexplicable actions.”
Williams’ lawyer, Dmitry Gorin, in the Los Angeles Times echoed the FBI’s agent, saying Williams “has demonstrated his unreserved and full acceptance of responsibility for his actions.”
He added, “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.”
Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
