Federal prosecutors have charged two Oakland Police Department helicopter officers with conspiring to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration in a case that also names a third defendant. Officers David Mac and Brandon Mart entered not guilty pleas on Thursday, September 10, 2026, after a federal grand jury indictment was unsealed during their first appearance in an Oakland federal courtroom. Mac and Mart both work in the department Air Support Unit.
Prosecutors allege the pair conspired with William Miller in connection with FAA records tied to pilot certification and aircraft registration. Bay Area News Group reporting described the case as a conspiracy with a safety inspector to evade safety requirements. A KTVU report said the officers were charged with faking helicopter pilot certifications. Those descriptions come from news accounts of the unsealed case.
The full indictment text had not been widely published by Thursday afternoon, and several newsrooms reported that the precise mechanics of the alleged scheme remained unclear after the arraignments. The charges are allegations. No court has found Mac, Mart, or Miller guilty. Each man pleaded not guilty.
All three were released on $250,000 bonds. A magistrate judge ordered them to surrender their passports and not speak with one another. They are due back in court on November 30 for a status conference. Mart faces a conspiracy count, three counts of FAA registration fraud, and two counts of obstruction of justice by falsifying records.
The obstruction counts carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if he is convicted. Mac faces a conspiracy count and one count of FAA registration fraud. His most serious count carries a maximum sentence of five years if he is convicted. Miller faces a conspiracy count and four counts of FAA registration fraud.
His most serious count also carries a maximum sentence of five years if he is convicted. Miller’s attorney declined to comment after the hearing. News accounts said it was not immediately clear who employed Miller or whether he worked in law enforcement. Oakland Police Chief James Beere said both officers were placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the case.
Beere said the department takes the allegations seriously and is cooperating with outside law enforcement agencies. In a video posted by the department, Beere said that when he became chief he made clear that anyone who commits a crime in the city will be held accountable, including members of the Oakland Police Department. He said an officer accused of wrongdoing undermines that individual and erodes community confidence in the profession. The department did not answer questions about whether it had opened an internal investigation.
Mac and Mart graduated from the 171st Oakland Police academy in April 2015. According to the FAA airmen registry, both received commercial pilot licenses in February 2024. The registry lists a helicopter rating for Mac. It lists a helicopter rating and a single engine airplane rating for Mart.
Mac also appears in tax filings as vice president of the Oakland Asian Police Officers Association for the fiscal year ending in December 2025. Federal aviation rules require a pilot to hold the proper certificate and aircraft rating before acting as pilot in command. Commercial and helicopter ratings are the credentials that allow a person to fly a rotorcraft for compensation or as part of official work. Those rules exist to ensure that people who operate aircraft have completed required training and testing.
Oaklandside reported that it remained unclear whether the alleged conduct was connected to Mac or Mart’s police duties. The Air Support Unit flies department helicopters used for aerial observation and other police missions. Valid pilot credentials matter for any agency that puts officers in the air. Whether the alleged records relate to those missions is a question the indictment, once fully public, and later court proceedings will have to answer.
The case arrives while the Oakland Police Department remains under long running federal court oversight that began after earlier misconduct scandals. City officials have discussed ending that supervision. Hoodline noted the charges landed close to that oversight calendar. That timing is a documented backdrop.
It is not proof of the FAA allegations. A separate local case also involves alleged fraud by an Oakland Police sergeant, Kevin Arias, who faces state charges after an internal review found overtime that investigators said he did not work. That matter is distinct from the federal FAA case and has not been tied to Mac, Mart, or Miller in public reporting. Suspicious gaps remain because the government has not yet laid out a complete public narrative.
Reporters who covered the arraignment said the indictment files had not appeared in the online criminal case database by mid afternoon Thursday even after a judge approved unsealing. That delay left the public with charge titles, possible prison maximums, and limited license records rather than a detailed account of who allegedly prepared which test form, who allegedly signed it, and when any alleged falsification occurred. Those missing particulars should be treated as missing, not filled in. What is established is narrower.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment. Prosecutors allege conspiracy and FAA registration fraud against all three men and allege that Mart also obstructed justice by falsifying records. Mac and Mart work as Oakland police helicopter officers. They received commercial pilot licenses in February 2024 according to the FAA registry.
They pleaded not guilty. Their department placed them on paid leave. The next court date is November 30. Until a jury or a judge decides the charges, the officers remain accused, not convicted.
