LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 A former member of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass\u2019 senior staff was sentenced Monday to a year of probation for calling in a fake bomb threat to City Hall while attending a virtual meeting in 2024.<\/p>\n
During his sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court, Brian K. Williams admitted that he falsely told police in October 2024 that he had received a call on his city-issued cellphone from an unknown man who said he had placed a bomb in City Hall, the Los Angeles Times reported.<\/a> Williams was a longtime law enforcement oversight official who served as Bass\u2019 deputy mayor of public safety.<\/p>\n \u201cThe male caller stated that \u2018he 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\u2019,\u201d Williams wrote in the text, according to prosecutors. He said he contacted the Los Angeles Police Department, which sent officers to search the building.<\/p>\n Williams\u2019 lawyer Dmitry Gorin cited \u201cundiagnosed mental health challenges,\u201d for which he said his client has undergone treatment, the newspaper said.<\/p>\n Prosecutors said in a presentencing memo that Williams reported the threat, \u201cafter he became overwhelmed with stress and anxiety and desperate to get out of an ongoing meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n