The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested two men on Wednesday and charged them with impersonating federal agents as part of an investigation that has left four Secret Service personnel on leave.
Authorities are accusing 40-year-old Arian Taherzadeh and 36-year-old Haider Ali of obtaining handguns, rifles, and other materials in order to guide themselves as employees with the Department of Homeland Security.
Fake Federal Agents
The agency said that the two suspects used their made-up identities to get closer to members of the federal law enforcement and the defense community. This includes a U.S. Secret Service agent who was assigned to the first lady's protective detail.
Officials said that one of the suspects, Taherzadeh, gave members of the Secret Service and an employee of DHS gifts, including "rent-free apartments (with a total yearly rent of over $40,000 per apartment), iPhones, surveillance systems, a drone, a flat-screen television, a case for storing an assault rifle, a generator, and law enforcement paraphernalia," as written in an FBI affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court in D.C., as per the Washington Post.
Furthermore, the suspect is believed to have offered employees the use of vehicles that he claimed belonged to the government. Taherzadeh also offered to buy a $2,000 assault rifle for an agent who was assigned to Jill Biden, said the affidavit.
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Prosecutors said that authorities placed four Secret Service personnel on leave earlier this week as part of the investigation of the controversy. The plot was discovered when the U.S. Postal Inspection Service started investigating an assault that involved a mail carrier at the apartment building. The two men identified themselves as being part of a phone Homeland Security unit that they called the "U.S. Special Police Investigation Unit."
According to the Associated Press, the men are also accused of setting up surveillance in the building and allegedly told residents that they were able to access their mobile devices at any given time. Furthermore, residents said that they believed the suspects had access to their personal information.
Getting Close to The Secret Service
The arrest involved more than a dozen FBI agents who entered the two men's apartment building on Wednesday night. Taherzadeh and Ali allegedly claimed to be involved in "undercover gang-related investigations" and being responsible for an investigation related to the chaos at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Prosecutors said that the suspects began posing as federal agents around February 2020 and were questioned on Mar. 14, 2022, as potential witnesses to an assault that involved a U.S. Postal Office worker.
On Wednesday, the Secret Service issues a statement regarding the suspensions of its employees, saying they were on administrative leave and were forbidden from accessing Secret Service facilities, equipment, and systems. They said that the agency adheres to the highest levels of professional standards and conduct and will continue to provide active assistance to the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
It was not immediately clear whether the two men had attorneys that could represent them and they are due to appear in court on Thursday, Newsweek reported.
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