Fake Federal Agents Tricked Secret Service Members, U.S. Says

Two males masquerading as Division of Homeland Safety officers in Washington duped a number of members of the Secret Service, offering them with tens of hundreds of {dollars} in items, together with rent-free flats, federal prosecutors mentioned. The lads have been scheduled to look in federal court docket on Thursday.

4 members of the Secret Service, the company charged with defending the president and the president’s household, have been positioned on administrative go away whereas the case is being investigated, in accordance with an affidavit filed in federal court docket within the District of Columbia.

One of many males, Arian Taherzadeh, provided to purchase a $2,000 assault rifle for an agent assigned to Jill Biden’s protecting element, in accordance with the affidavit, which was filed Tuesday.

Mr. Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, have been charged with one depend of false impersonation of an officer of the US, the affidavit mentioned. The F.B.I. arrested them on Wednesday in Southeast Washington. The 2-year scheme started in February 2020 and unraveled lately, the affidavit mentioned.

“Taherzadeh and Ali have tried to make use of their false and fraudulent affiliation with D.H.S. to ingratiate themselves with members of federal legislation enforcement and the protection neighborhood,” David Elias, an F.B.I. particular agent, wrote within the affidavit.

Mr. Elias didn’t say why the boys carried out the impersonation. Federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. declined to counsel a motive or additional details about the 2 males.

It was not instantly clear whether or not they had attorneys.

Mr. Taherzadeh supplied members of the Secret Service and a Homeland Safety worker rent-free flats, iPhones, surveillance techniques, a drone, a flat-screen tv, a case to retailer an assault rifle, and a generator, the affidavit mentioned.

Mr. Taherzadeh additionally provided them what he described as “official authorities automobiles.”

The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Thursday. Michael LaRosa, a spokesman for Dr. Biden, referred inquiries to the Secret Service.

In a press release, a spokesman for the company mentioned that it was working with investigators and that the staff concerned within the case had been restricted “from accessing Secret Service amenities, tools, and techniques.”

“The Secret Service adheres to the very best ranges {of professional} requirements and conduct and can stay in lively coordination with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Safety,” the spokesman, Kang Lee, mentioned.

It was not the primary time that the conduct of members of the Secret Service had drawn intense scrutiny to the company. In 2012, a number of brokers resigned or confronted their dismissal after revelations that that they had engaged in misconduct whereas defending President Barack Obama throughout an abroad journey to Colombia, together with encounters with prostitutes.

The investigation of Mr. Taherzadeh and Mr. Ali started after a letter service with the US Postal Service was assaulted in March at an house advanced the place the boys had been dwelling. A U.S. postal inspector went to the advanced to interview witnesses, together with the 2 males.

The lads informed the inspector that they have been investigators with the U.S. Particular Police Investigation Unit, in accordance with the affidavit. They mentioned they have been a part of an undercover investigation into gang-related exercise in addition to an inquiry into the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Different residents of the constructing informed the inspector that the boys had recognized themselves as Homeland Safety particular brokers, that they used different house items within the constructing and that they drove round in a black S.U.V. geared up with emergency lights that they described as an official Homeland Safety automobile.

The residents mentioned that Mr. Taherzadeh and Mr. Ali had positioned varied items of surveillance tools across the constructing and informed residents that that they had entry to their cellphones and private data, in accordance with the affidavit. It was not clear why they informed this to residents.

The inspector additionally discovered that Mr. Taherzadeh and Mr. Ali have been in common contact with a number of members of the Secret Service who lived in the identical constructing and that the boys had given them items, Mr. Elias wrote.

The inspector reported the data to the Homeland Safety Workplace of the Inspector Normal, which referred the case to the F.B.I.

One witness informed investigators of being recruited by Mr. Taherzadeh and Mr. Ali to be a Homeland Safety worker and serve on a process power. As a part of the recruitment course of, the boys shot the witness with an Airsoft rifle “to judge their ache tolerance and response,” Mr. Elias wrote.

The lads informed the witness, who was not recognized within the affidavit, that they wanted to conduct analysis “on a person that supplied assist to the Division of Protection and intelligence neighborhood,” in accordance with the affidavit.

Mr. Taherzadeh typically carried a Glock 19, Mr. Elias wrote.

He despatched one Secret Service agent photos of himself in tactical gear bearing the phrase “police.” In one other picture, he posed in entrance of a stack of huge circumstances which are typically used to hold firearms. He additionally despatched an agent a photograph that he claimed confirmed a coaching session for Homeland Safety Investigations.

“The investigation revealed that the picture Taherzadeh despatched is a inventory picture from the web,” Mr. Elias wrote. There isn’t any file that he had ever participated in such coaching, he the affidavit mentioned.

Mr. Taherzadeh informed a Secret Service member that he labored in a gang unit at Homeland Safety and had credentials for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in accordance with the affidavit.

For about one 12 months, he supplied the worker a rent-free penthouse house that will have price $40,200, the affidavit mentioned.

“Though Mr. Taherzadeh was very outspoken about his job,” Mr. Elias wrote, “He claimed that he was a part of a covert process power.”