Two men were arrested in Washington, DC, on Wednesday after they allegedly tricked Secret Service agents, including one on the first lady’s security detail, into believing that they were members of the Department of Homeland Security.
Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 36, were both charged with falsely impersonating an officer of the United States — a federal offense that carries a maximum prison sentence of three years.
According to an affidavit from an FBI investigator, the pair’s bizarre con allegedly started in February 2020 and involved them trying to “ingratiate themselves with members of federal law enforcement and the defense community.”
They were said to have provided four Secret Service agents and at least one DHS employee with iPhones, a drone, a flat-screen TV, a generator, a gun case, and rent-free apartments worth more than $40,000 per year.
Per court documents, they also let the federal agents use a black GMX SUV that they falsely said was an “official government vehicle.”
Taherzadeh was said to have offered to purchase a $2,000 assault rifle for a Secret Service agent on Jill Biden’s security detail.
Taherzadeh also sent selfies and photos of himself wearing police tactical gear to actual federal agents.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/secret-service-con