DEA / Police imposter gets local police assistance with bogus raids - Page 1

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - DEA / Police imposter gets local police assistance with bogus raids

Posted: 5/15/2008 2:23:15 PM EDT

www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/BA97B2E512EF7EFF8625744A000F9223?OpenDocument

Peculiar deception rattles small town
By Todd C. Frankel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/15/2008

Gerald — The manager over at Wally's Hardware knew something unusual — yet again — was going down when he got the call Monday to change the locks at City Hall.

Steve Mills was not entirely surprised. The last several months had been discomforting ones for this town of 1,200 residents in Franklin County. Police chiefs kept coming, then going. The town's only pharmacist was arrested last week in a methamphetamine bust. And the town dogcatcher was fired earlier this year for shooting and killing cats.

Now someone else needed to be kept out of City Hall.

But the reason was the most peculiar yet: A man thought to be a federal drug agent, who had spent months alongside police kicking down doors and making arrests, turned out not to be an agent of any stripe. He duped officials for months, pretending to be on loan from the Drug Enforcement Agency. As his story recently unraveled and the fallout began, the police chief and two officers were fired from the five-member department.

So the locks at City Hall needed to be changed.

"Gerald is a good town, a good community," Mills said Wednesday as he worked at the hardware store. "But it does feel like there's been a lot of commotion or upheaval lately."

Investigators were still trying to sort fact from fiction in the story of the fake DEA agent. They know this much, or think they do: He is a 36-year-old man from Washington, Mo. He is married. He never was a federal agent. He was arrested and released Monday. No charges had been filed, so the Post-Dispatch is not using his name. The Franklin County Sheriff's Department, Missouri Highway Patrol and FBI are investigating.

The fake agent seemed to know the ins and outs of law enforcement, according to investigators and those who worked with him.

He drove a cream-colored Ford Crown Victoria with a siren bar and police radio. He was known for wearing a black T-shirt with "Police" emblazoned across the chest and dark tactical pants with pockets down the sides. He carried a gun in a side holster. He had a federal ID card and an official-looking badge. He was sturdily built and clean-cut.

"He was everything that you'd think a federal office would be," Mayor Otis Schulte said.

About three months ago, the fake agent just showed up at the police station, housed inside the blond-brick city hall, Schulte said. The newcomer said he was a DEA agent and part of a regional drug task force. The DEA was footing his bill, he explained, and when he left, he would leave behind his cruiser.

It was an appealing offer for the small, financially strapped department in a region with a reputation as one of the meth-lab capitals of the nation.

He even provided a phone number for Gerald officials to verify everything, Schulte said. The number was answered by a message for something called the "multi-jurisdictional task force." One time a woman answered saying the same thing, promising to pass along the message, Schulte said.

"We trusted him," said Sarah Wheeler, the city clerk. "He came across as an actual federal agent, a good guy."

The ruse might have lasted longer except the fake agent's rough ways led to calls to a local weekly newspaper, the Gasconade County Republican. Reporter Linda Trest heard from people who claimed a brash, new DEA agent was kicking down doors without search warrants.

The agent even took part in the arrest of Gerald's pharmacist. Trest recalled running into the agent outside the pharmacist's house, next door to her own.

Trest was doubtful at first — she knew that people wrapped up in drug raids rarely make reliable sources. But she kept digging. Last month, she called Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke and asked him if he had heard about this DEA agent loaned to Gerald police. Toelke started poking around and discovered they had a rogue officer or agent or whoever he said he was.

"This was a mess," Toelke said.

Trest, whose story hit doorsteps Wednesday, suspected officials were fooled by the fake agent's "razzle-dazzle."

The impostor seems to have claimed at different times to be an Iraq War veteran, a retired Air Force chaplain and a father of two. He may have worked briefly at the Treasury Department in St. Louis. He claimed to have worked for police departments in Kinloch, East St. Louis and Sauget. But investigators were doubtful about what to believe.

Residents point to the good things here: a beautiful city park with two baseball fields and a lake, a library staffed by volunteers and filled with donated books, a good mixture of light-industrial jobs and commuters who travel to jobs at Chrysler and Boeing in the St. Louis area.

Last Friday, county investigators seized the fake badge from the fake agent. He was arrested Monday. On Tuesday, the mayor and town officials fired the police chief and two officers because of their roles in the drug raids that are now seemingly tainted.

Authorities worry about the effect on pending criminal cases, since the fake agent joined in on several drug arrests and raids. In late April, police in Gerald made a series of arrests that netted a small amount of methamphetamine and about five pounds of marijuana.

Schulte said he did not want to fire the officers. He felt the police were just hitting their stride, after a revolving door of police chiefs, and were cracking down on the drug trade. But the potential legal liability was too much, he said.

"Our hands are tied," Schulte said, sounding dismayed at the recent run of events. "This guy just really screwed this town up. Things were going really, really good."

[email protected] | 314-340-8110

Posted: 5/15/2008 2:24:16 PM EDT

[#1]

What is his screen name?

Posted: 5/15/2008 2:32:28 PM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
Snip

the mayor and town officials fired the police chief and two officers

Snip

That aint gonna buff out very soon

Posted: 5/15/2008 2:38:00 PM EDT

[#3]

Fire the Chief for not following up on checking the "creds", but why fire the cops, not like they would have been in the loop.

If no search warrants were acquired before a raid, then you'd think any reasonably intelligent Chief of Police would be a bit suspicious. Or, just a lazy SOB.

Posted: 5/15/2008 2:42:46 PM EDT

[#4]

wow

Posted: 5/15/2008 2:48:10 PM EDT

[#5]

de ja-CIA agent in houston.

Posted: 5/15/2008 2:50:36 PM EDT

[#6]

So will any of those drug busts hold up in court now?

Posted: 5/15/2008 2:54:01 PM EDT

[#7]

He must be a PhD in poser.

Posted: 5/15/2008 2:56:14 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
So will any of those drug busts hold up in court now?

Depends. At this point with them firing basically their whole police department, I wouldn't count on it.

Posted: 5/15/2008 3:21:52 PM EDT

[#9]

I mean WTF THE ULTIMATE POSER Living his ultimate fantasy.

The fucker probably masterbated while watching COPs on Fox.

Posted: 5/15/2008 3:30:19 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
He must be a PhD in poser.

No shit, this guy is a master.

One on the best I heard of years ago was a guy in Virginia that was posing as a F14 pilot. He had uniforms, an ID card (LtCDR) and even a dental record. He was on his 3rd marriage and ex wife number 2 and his current wife thought he was the real deal. He got nabbed by some real pilots that overheard him talking at the NAS Oceana O' Club and sensed something was wrong and notified NIS.

This DEA guy tops that by a long shot.

Posted: 5/15/2008 3:30:25 PM EDT

[#11]

Wow... dumbasses duped by a poser.

Posted: 5/15/2008 5:01:25 PM EDT

[#12]

Now that is some funny shit right there.

Backwoods ass chief doesn't even check to see if the guy is legit other than getting a message machine. Doesn't make any calls to .Gov. to confirm and then takes the guy along for the whole nine yards. He deserves to be fired.

I also want to know why the guy wasn't charged. Article says he was arrested but not charged

That's some serious criminal impersonation there.

Posted: 5/16/2008 5:41:48 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Now that is some funny shit right there.

Backwoods ass chief doesn't even check to see if the guy is legit other than getting a message machine. Doesn't make any calls to .Gov. to confirm and then takes the guy along for the whole nine yards. He deserves to be fired.

I also want to know why the guy wasn't charged. Article says he was arrested but not charged

That's some serious criminal impersonation there.

I predict he'll be charged to the point he will become the poster boy for why you should not impersonate a federal agent for years to come.

Wow!

Posted: 5/16/2008 5:45:54 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
I also want to know why the guy wasn't charged. Article says he was arrested but not charged

That's some serious criminal impersonation there.

Someone needs to make sure that the DA is really the DA.

Posted: 5/16/2008 5:45:56 AM EDT

[#15]

i grew up in the Washington, MO area. I wonder if I know him.

Posted: 5/16/2008 5:53:16 AM EDT

[#16]

He was arrested and released Monday. No charges had been filed, so the Post-Dispatch is not using his name.

The fact that he pulled this off is less surprising to me, than the fact that they let him go.
He was impersonating an officer and interfering in investigations, at the very least...
I thought those were crimes?

Are we not wanting to make the poser a victim, or what?
He's probably in Mexico by now.

With a quote like the above, the stupidity over there would appear to be overflowing.
Maybe I'm missing something as to why we don't charge and lock up criminals anymore.

Posted: 5/16/2008 6:38:35 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
So will any of those drug busts hold up in court now?

Not likely.

Posted: 5/16/2008 6:41:42 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:

He was arrested and released Monday. No charges had been filed, so the Post-Dispatch is not using his name.

The fact that he pulled this off is less surprising to me, than the fact that they let him go.
He was impersonating an officer and interfering in investigations, at the very least...
I thought those were crimes?

Are we not wanting to make the poser a victim, or what?
He's probably in Mexico by now.

With a quote like the above, the stupidity over there would appear to be overflowing.
Maybe I'm missing something as to why we don't charge and lock up criminals anymore.

He wasn't "let go" he was arrested and formal charges have not been filed.

I would bet that the feds and the state prosecutors are deciding how and where they want to charge this guy.

Wait.

It will get better.

Posted: 5/16/2008 6:49:08 AM EDT

[#19]

tag fer follow up...

Posted: 5/16/2008 6:51:30 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:

He was arrested and released Monday. No charges had been filed, so the Post-Dispatch is not using his name.

The fact that he pulled this off is less surprising to me, than the fact that they let him go.
He was impersonating an officer and interfering in investigations, at the very least...
I thought those were crimes?

Are we not wanting to make the poser a victim, or what?
He's probably in Mexico by now.

With a quote like the above, the stupidity over there would appear to be overflowing.
Maybe I'm missing something as to why we don't charge and lock up criminals anymore.

He wasn't "let go" he was arrested and formal charges have not been filed.

I would bet that the feds and the state prosecutors are deciding how and where they want to charge this guy.

Wait.

It will get better.

You're thinking "Employee of the Month," aren't you.

Posted: 5/16/2008 6:53:12 AM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:

He was arrested and released Monday. No charges had been filed, so the Post-Dispatch is not using his name.

The fact that he pulled this off is less surprising to me, than the fact that they let him go.
He was impersonating an officer and interfering in investigations, at the very least...
I thought those were crimes?

Are we not wanting to make the poser a victim, or what?
He's probably in Mexico by now.

With a quote like the above, the stupidity over there would appear to be overflowing.
Maybe I'm missing something as to why we don't charge and lock up criminals anymore.

He wasn't "let go" he was arrested and formal charges have not been filed.

I would bet that the feds and the state prosecutors are deciding how and where they want to charge this guy.

Wait.

It will get better.

You're thinking "Employee of the Month," aren't you.

What?

Posted: 5/16/2008 6:53:15 AM EDT

[#22]

Social engineering at its best.

Watch it turn out that the phone call to change the locks at city hall was actually placed by the phony himself, and he's having the locks changed so only he is able to get in there.

Get in, without interference, get whatever it is he's looking for, get out, throw away the keys on the way out.

I'm actually very impressed at the extent to which this guy succeeded.

_MaH

Posted: 5/16/2008 7:01:10 AM EDT

[#23]

wasn't this an episode of Reno 911??

Posted: 5/16/2008 7:06:58 AM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
wasn't this an episode of Reno 911??

There's two I can think of along these lines...

The first was where they released the prisoner to people pretending to be DOJ, and then realized how badly they fucked up when, seconds after releasing him, the real DOJ shows up and offers all kinds of ID to prove they're legit.

The second was that citizen's police assistant guy who was solving the murders faster than they were. Only for them to find out at the end that he was the murderer all along and they let him go.

For my money, it doesn't get funnier than when they were rescuing that cat from the roof

_MaH

Posted: 5/16/2008 7:26:39 AM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:

He was arrested and released Monday. No charges had been filed, so the Post-Dispatch is not using his name.

The fact that he pulled this off is less surprising to me, than the fact that they let him go.
He was impersonating an officer and interfering in investigations, at the very least...
I thought those were crimes?

Are we not wanting to make the poser a victim, or what?
He's probably in Mexico by now.

With a quote like the above, the stupidity over there would appear to be overflowing.
Maybe I'm missing something as to why we don't charge and lock up criminals anymore.

He wasn't "let go" he was arrested and formal charges have not been filed.

I would bet that the feds and the state prosecutors are deciding how and where they want to charge this guy.

Wait.

It will get better.

You're thinking "Employee of the Month," aren't you.

What?

JOKE. That they are going to award the imposter Employee of the Month. For his diligence.

Posted: 5/16/2008 7:33:45 AM EDT

[#26]

The fake agent seemed to know the ins and outs of law enforcement, according to investigators and those who worked with him.

This should have been the first clue that he wasn't DEA.

Posted: 5/16/2008 7:38:45 AM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:

He was arrested and released Monday. No charges had been filed, so the Post-Dispatch is not using his name.

The fact that he pulled this off is less surprising to me, than the fact that they let him go.
He was impersonating an officer and interfering in investigations, at the very least...
I thought those were crimes?

Are we not wanting to make the poser a victim, or what?
He's probably in Mexico by now.

With a quote like the above, the stupidity over there would appear to be overflowing.
Maybe I'm missing something as to why we don't charge and lock up criminals anymore.

He wasn't "let go" he was arrested and formal charges have not been filed.

I would bet that the feds and the state prosecutors are deciding how and where they want to charge this guy.

Wait.

It will get better.

You're thinking "Employee of the Month," aren't you.

What?

JOKE. That they are going to award the imposter Employee of the Month. For his diligence.

Oh, I thought it was a reference to this movie.

Also about an imposter.

www.imdb.com/media/rm1200004352/tt0362590

Posted: 5/16/2008 7:58:41 AM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
He drove a cream-colored Ford Crown Victoria with a siren bar and police radio. He was known for wearing a black T-shirt with "Police" emblazoned across the chest and dark tactical pants with pockets down the sides. He carried a gun in a side holster. He had a federal ID card and an official-looking badge. He was sturdily built and clean-cut.

"He was everything that you'd think a federal office would be," Mayor Otis Schulte said.

That's your problem right there. BDU style pants should be banned from LE and civilian use. This is more proof that cargo pants make otherwise good folks do bad, unconstitutional things.

Posted: 5/16/2008 8:03:44 AM EDT

[#29]

Very interesting.

Posted: 5/16/2008 8:06:56 AM EDT

[#30]

That's kinda scary

I demand blood! Those cops need some criminal charges.

Posted: 5/16/2008 8:10:19 AM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:

Quoted:
He drove a cream-colored Ford Crown Victoria with a siren bar and police radio. He was known for wearing a black T-shirt with "Police" emblazoned across the chest and dark tactical pants with pockets down the sides. He carried a gun in a side holster. He had a federal ID card and an official-looking badge. He was sturdily built and clean-cut.

"He was everything that you'd think a federal office would be," Mayor Otis Schulte said.

That's your problem right there. BDU style pants should be banned from LE and civilian use. This is more proof that cargo pants make otherwise good folks do bad, unconstitutional things.

Glad to see you're coming around.

Posted: 5/16/2008 8:20:05 AM EDT

[#32]

This sounds familar......

Hmmm......

Posted: 5/16/2008 9:01:50 AM EDT

[#33]

My question would be how much "forfeiture" (theft) this guy walked away with.

Posted: 5/16/2008 9:08:53 AM EDT

[#34]

Any relation to Dwight Shrute, I wonder?

Posted: 5/16/2008 9:18:28 AM EDT

[#35]

social engineering is fun.

Posted: 5/16/2008 9:21:10 AM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:

Quoted:
He drove a cream-colored Ford Crown Victoria with a siren bar and police radio. He was known for wearing a black T-shirt with "Police" emblazoned across the chest and dark tactical pants with pockets down the sides. He carried a gun in a side holster. He had a federal ID card and an official-looking badge. He was sturdily built and clean-cut.

"He was everything that you'd think a federal office would be," Mayor Otis Schulte said.

That's your problem right there. BDU style pants should be banned from LE and civilian use. This is more proof that cargo pants make otherwise good folks do bad, unconstitutional things.

Well, in his defense, most cops that wear BDU style pants are posers and wannabes.

Posted: 5/16/2008 9:49:41 AM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:

Quoted:
He drove a cream-colored Ford Crown Victoria with a siren bar and police radio. He was known for wearing a black T-shirt with "Police" emblazoned across the chest and dark tactical pants with pockets down the sides. He carried a gun in a side holster. He had a federal ID card and an official-looking badge. He was sturdily built and clean-cut.

"He was everything that you'd think a federal office would be," Mayor Otis Schulte said.

That's your problem right there. BDU style pants should be banned from LE and civilian use. This is more proof that cargo pants make otherwise good folks do bad, unconstitutional things.

Well, in his defense, most cops that wear BDU style pants are posers and wannabes.

Yeah, just like all those EMS and FFs that wear cargo pants. Losers. They should be banned for the children.

Posted: 5/16/2008 10:15:21 AM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:

Well, in his defense, most cops that wear BDU style pants are posers and wannabes.

You do realize that BDU's are standard issue now for a whole lot of PD's and specialized units, right?

Posted: 5/16/2008 10:51:41 AM EDT

[#39]

Why is everyone refusing to discuss the most important issue!
What round was the town dogcatcher using to shoot cats and what were the results?

Posted: 5/16/2008 4:57:40 PM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Now that is some funny shit right there.

Backwoods ass chief doesn't even check to see if the guy is legit other than getting a message machine. Doesn't make any calls to .Gov. to confirm and then takes the guy along for the whole nine yards. He deserves to be fired.

I also want to know why the guy wasn't charged. Article says he was arrested but not charged

That's some serious criminal impersonation there.

I predict he'll be charged to the point he will become the poster boy for why you should not impersonate a federal agent for years to come.

Wow!

I am in Missouri and I have known the chief and everyone on the police force being LE myself. The backwoods chief was a military contractor in Iraq that provided security for some kind of transports. He is a really sharp individual. Something is really fishy about all of this...

Posted: 5/16/2008 5:13:53 PM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Now that is some funny shit right there.

Backwoods ass chief doesn't even check to see if the guy is legit other than getting a message machine. Doesn't make any calls to .Gov. to confirm and then takes the guy along for the whole nine yards. He deserves to be fired.

I also want to know why the guy wasn't charged. Article says he was arrested but not charged

That's some serious criminal impersonation there.

I predict he'll be charged to the point he will become the poster boy for why you should not impersonate a federal agent for years to come.

Wow!

I am in Missouri and I have known the chief and everyone on the police force being LE myself. The backwoods chief was a military contractor in Iraq that provided security for some kind of transports. He is a really sharp individual. Something is really fishy about all of this...

Come ON Now Red...you're missing the Point.. ANY News article that shows anything remotely critical of a PD, no matter HOW short on actual details is to be treated as if it were writ by God himself, and factually accurate in every (non)Detail. It's only when the newsies get stuff about Firearms and non-LEO's getting jammed up wrong, or imcomplete, that they are to be taken with a grain of salt, or their innacuracies pointed out for all to see.

Posted: 5/16/2008 5:30:14 PM EDT

[#42]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Now that is some funny shit right there.

Backwoods ass chief doesn't even check to see if the guy is legit other than getting a message machine. Doesn't make any calls to .Gov. to confirm and then takes the guy along for the whole nine yards. He deserves to be fired.

I also want to know why the guy wasn't charged. Article says he was arrested but not charged

That's some serious criminal impersonation there.

I predict he'll be charged to the point he will become the poster boy for why you should not impersonate a federal agent for years to come.

Wow!

I am in Missouri and I have known the chief and everyone on the police force being LE myself. The backwoods chief was a military contractor in Iraq that provided security for some kind of transports. He is a really sharp individual. Something is really fishy about all of this...

The last several months had been discomforting ones for this town of 1,200 residents in Franklin County. Police chiefs kept coming, then going. The town's only pharmacist was arrested last week in a methamphetamine bust.

So you say you know this particular chief? How long had he been in this town? This a like a 5 man dept, right? If that is the case, the chief should know EVERYTHING that is going on in that tiny little town, and if he didn't, the officers should have. Bunch of chiefs lately, pharmacist gets busted, etc., etc. Obviously, he doesn't know what is going on in his town.

Then this fake fed walks in and takes over the town without anyone REALLY checking his creds? If I am a tiny town chief, you can bet your ass that I am looking into a guy that shows up on my doorstep saying he is a Fed.

You are right, it does sound like something fishy is going on.

Posted: 5/16/2008 6:21:09 PM EDT

[#43]

Im just gonna put a sign on my car thats says Free to local law enforcement, Federal Dope Agent, if needed call 555-555-5555. Then I'm gonna cruise small towns and go to work.

Free dope and whores for all of ARFCOM! Even Dave A.

Posted: 5/17/2008 6:15:42 PM EDT

[#44]

The Chief of Police should of followed up on the identity of the DEA agent by calling the local or regional office.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - DEA / Police imposter gets local police assistance with bogus raids

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