Expand All | Collapse All

Los Angeles County Man Arrested, Charged with Impersonating a Fire Department Officer

By Memo Hernandez, Investigations Unit

A man who lived in Downey and called himself “Mr. Green” was convicted of impersonating an officer and extortion. The case was prepared by the Investigations Unit of the Health Hazardous Materials Division (HHMD) and referred to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s (DA) Office.

During several months of 2004, “Mr. Green” impersonated an inspector of the Los Angeles County Fire Department at numerous businesses, accusing the victims of not being in compliance with environmental laws and threatening to shut them down if they failed to pay a bogus fine/permit. He would extort as much as $400 in a few minutes from his victims who were unfamiliar with regulatory requirements.

However on September 22, 2004, when the impersonator demanded cash at an auto body shop in Lynwood, the business owner became suspicious and asked that he return later that day for a cash payment. When he returned to collect his money, he was met by the city’s Code Enforcement Officers. They contacted the County Sheriff and Fire Department.

The Division’s Investigations Unit —Memo Hernandez, Stan Townsend, Paul Biren, and Jim McCarron—developed the felony case for the District Attorney to prosecute this impersonator. Search warrants enabled them to find Notices of Violations, checks, receipts, and payment contracts at his home and in his vehicle. Victims and witnesses described that the impersonator was quite upset while demanding his payments. In fact, at one auto repair shop the impersonator had left a Notice of Violation (containing the Fire Department’s logo) along with a written schedule of payments for “services.” According to receipts found, he had visited an auto body shop five times to demand an outstanding balance. In addition, the impersonator demanded payment for documents that were disguised as permits.

This defendant was sentenced to 50 days of community service and five years’ probation. The judge ordered him to pay restitution to all of the victims.Business owners and operators are advised to guard their business against impersonators in the following ways:

1. always ask for picture identification;

2. obtain a contact phone number;

3. ask for the name of the inspector’s supervisor;

4. never pay any inspector cash; and

5. verify any charges with the Fire Department’s Financial Management Division at (323) 838-2345.