Thirty-eight-year-old Fredriksson made a brief court appearance in which he pleaded not guilty and had his bail reduced from $50,000 to $40,000. He is charged with a single crime that came to the attention of San Leandro police in March.
"On March 18, 2011, I was personally notified by a resident of San Leandro that Jason Fredriksson could be involved in criminal activity involving the distribution of marijuana," said San Leandro Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli a she somberly announced criminal charges had been filed against one of her veteran officers. "We believe that Ofc. Fredriksson was acting alone in this case."
Fredriksson turned himself in just after noon Friday. The vice and narcotics officer is charged with one felony count for providing one pound of marijuana to a police informant.
"Officer Fredriksson had a personal relationship with a confidential informant involved in this case that he provided marijuana to for the purposes of sales," said Spagnoli. "And that confidential informant was an active informant with the San Leandro Police Department."
"This is really about one person, in fact two persons -- this is what I would call a dangerous liaison, a really romantic indiscretion gone bad and gotten complicated with some marijuana," said Fredriksson's attorney Harry Stern.
In 2005, Fredriksson was the first officer on the scene when San Leandro police officer Dan Niemi was gunned down. His wife, Sheryl Fredriksson, also worked for the San Leandro Police Department as a dispatcher. Now both are on paid administrative leave.
"This is a complicated family situation. It's more than unfortunate, of course," said Stern. "I don't represent her, she has separate counsel, and I really can't speak to what is or isn't going on with her."
Sheryl Fredriksson was named San Leandro's dispatcher of the year in 2007. Her department is investigating some administrative matter related to her, but it's not clear how it's connected to her husband's troubles.
Though the Fredrikssons live in Danville, San Leandro police made it clear they do not think that this case in any way related to the CNET scandal in Contra Costa County or that there is any connection between Fredriksson and the police officers charged in that case.
