Antioch cops’ racist texts strike again: DA dismisses charges against two accused of mutilating a corpse in extremely suspicious incident
Prosecutors said that the case can't move forward in light of revelations that dozens of officers were involved in text message threads with racist communications.
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 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 25-year-old Mykaella Sharlman 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 a swath of texts containing racist memes, 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 felony and state court. On top of that, the DA and Public Defender offices have pledged to investigate potentially thousands of cases involving the impugned officers, including old convictions as well as active charges. One group of four men 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 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.