Concord Man Sentenced To Eighteen Years Of Imprisonment For Violent Extortion Scheme And Shooting At Federal Officers

OAKLAND - Joel Dowen was sentenced today to eighteen years in federal prison, for engaging in a violent extortion scheme, shooting at a federal officer, drug dealing, and bank fraud. Co-defendant Micah-Luc Almeida was sentenced to three years in federal prison for conspiring to deal drugs with Dowen. United States District Judge Jon S. Tigar handed down the sentence.

Dowen, 46, of Concord, California, and Almeida, 47, of San Francisco, California were indicted in a superseding indictment by a federal grand jury on March 26, 2024. Dowen was charged with mailing threatening communications with intent to extort, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 376(b) and assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(b); both Dowen and Almeida were charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute MDA; and Almeida was additionally charged with possession with intent to distribute MDA, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1). Dowen was separately charged in 2025 with bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. The defendants pleaded guilty to all counts.

In their plea agreements, Dowen and Almeida admitted that from 2020 to 2024 they conspired to manufacture and distribute large quantities of federally controlled substances, including MDA and psilocin. Dowen and Almeida maintained a drug manufacturing laboratory in Richmond, California, from where law enforcement seized hundreds of kilograms of waste material from attempted drug manufacturing.

Dowen also admitted to engaging in a pattern of threats and violence against a victim and their family to extort the victim for millions of dollars and a drug-manufacturing recipe. Dowen arranged for three individuals to violently assault the victim's elderly father (then 80 years old) in his home, causing life-threatening injuries. After the assault, Dowen continued to threaten the victim and other members of the victim's family and set the victim's home on fire. When law enforcement came to arrest Dowen in 2024, he shot at them with a handgun through the front door as they were breaching the entrance, hitting one DEA agent's protective shield.

United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian and DEA Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris made the announcement.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Tigar sentenced both Dowen and Almeida to a 3-year period of supervised release.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office's Organized Crime Section. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lina Peng and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Karmel handled the case, with assistance from Legal Administrative Specialist Sara Slattery and Legal Assistant Freya Picciotto. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the DEA, IRS-CI, ATF, FBI, HSI, and US Postal Inspectors, with the assistance of the Concord Police Department.