Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Agrees to Plead Guilty to Threatening to Bomb L.A. City Hall Last Year

LOS ANGELES – A former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Public Safety was charged today with threatening to bomb Los Angeles City Hall last year. 

Brian K. Williams, 61, of Pasadena, is charged in a single-count information with threats regarding fire and explosives.        

In a related filing today, Williams agreed to plead guilty to the felony charge, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

Williams is expected to make his initial appearance in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

“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.”

“Mr. Williams, the former deputy mayor of Public Safety for Los Angeles, 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. I’m relieved that Mr. Williams has taken responsibility for his inexplicable actions.”

According to his plea agreement, on October 3, 2024, while serving as Deputy Mayor of Public Safety for the City of Los Angeles, Williams participated in a virtual meeting with multiple people in connection with his official duties. During this meeting, Williams used the Google Voice application on his personal cellphone to place a call to his city-issued cellphone. Williams then left the virtual meeting and placed a call to the Chief of Staff of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). During this call, Williams falsely stated that he had just received a call on his city-issued cellphone from an unknown man who threatened to bomb Los Angeles City Hall.

In fact, Williams received no such call and had made the bomb threat himself. At no time did Williams intend to carry out the threat.

Approximately 10 minutes later, Williams sent a text message to the Los Angeles Mayor and several high-ranking city officials in the Mayor’s office and falsely reported, “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.” In fact, Williams had not received such a call.

Shortly thereafter, LAPD officers responded to City Hall to investigate the threat Williams reported. Police searched the building and did not locate any suspicious packages or devices. Williams described to police the threatening call he claimed to have received, showed them the record of an incoming call that appeared as a blocked number on his city-issued cellphone, and said 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. 

Williams then sent additional text messages to the Los Angeles Mayor and other high-ranking city officials stating, “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.”

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating this matter. The Los Angeles Police Department provided substantial assistance.

Assistant United States Attorney David T. Ryan, Chief of the National Security Division, is prosecuting this case.