| For Immediate Release Case # 08CF1666
January 9, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
SECURITY GUARD PLEADS GUILTY TO FALSELY IMPERSONATING HOMELAND SECURITY COUNTERTERRORISM AGENT
SANTA ANA – A retail store security guard was convicted today of carrying a loaded firearm while pretending to be a counterterrorism agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Kevin Javaheri, 39, Pasadena, pleaded guilty to the court one felony count of possession of a forged government seal, and misdemeanors for carrying a loaded firearm in public and misrepresenting oneself as a peace officer with a sentencing enhancement for impersonating a peace officer during the commission of a felony. He was sentenced to one year in jail, three years formal probation, and is subject a lifetime prohibition from owning a firearm.
At approximately 1:00 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2008, Javaheri carried a loaded firearm in a shoulder holster through a parking lot in Orange with a false identification badge attached to the holster. The badge identified Javaheri by name and picture as an agent of the “United States Department of Homeland Security” assigned to “Counter Terrorism [sic] Intelligence Operations,” and contained the official seal of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Javaheri kept several fake business cards on his person and in his car, which identified him as a federal agent of the Department of Homeland Security’s Counterterrorism Intelligence Operations.
Officers from the Orange Police Department responded to a call of a man with a firearm and located the defendant at a nearby restaurant. Javaheri fraudulently claimed to the officers that he was a federal agent. Subsequent investigation revealed that Javaheri falsely identified himself as a federal agent to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies in September 2007 after filing a report that his car had been burglarized.
Deputy District Attorney Keith Bogardus of the Special Prosecutions Unit prosecuted this case.
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