Police in Boynton Beach, Florida arrested a man earlier this week after he was captured on their body cameras telling them he was a United States Marshall – complete with badge, lapel pin, and gun.
There was just one problem: both his badge and his gun were fake, a fact Boynton Beach police officers were able to determine after confronting him inside a Best Buy this past Wednesday.
According to the Boynton Beach Police Department, officers were called to the Best Buy after staff at the store recognized him as the man who allegedly shoplifted an iPhone from the store earlier this week.
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The officers’ body cameras were rolling as they approached 61-year-old John O’Grady, dressed in a black suit with a U.S. Marshall pin on his lapel.
“Are you a police officer,” one of the officers asks him.
“I am an officer,” said O’Grady. “A federal marshal.”
The officers are immediately suspicious and begin questioning O’Grady, asking him if he has his full marshal Identification, or the number of his supervisor.
When he answers in the negative to either inquiry, the officers decide they’ve seen enough.
“Cuff him,” the officer instructs his partner.
“For what?” said O’Grady.
“Until we figure out what is going on. You have a weapon. No ID on you,” the officer said.
O’Grady then tells officer the sidearm on his hip isn’t real.
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“You are carrying a fake weapon? And you are a federal marshal?” the officer asked.
“No,” O’Grady said.
“Oh you are not? Congratulations you just impersonated a police officer and that’s a federal offense.”
Officers determined the gun O’Grady was carrying was actually a BB gun. According to police, a search of O’Grady’s car revealed the iPhone that had previously been stolen from the store.
O’Grady was charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer and retail theft, and booked into to the Palm Beach County Jail.