BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — A shoplifting charge soon became a far more serious offense when a South Florida man claimed to be a U.S. Marshal.
Boynton Beach Police said a Best Buy employee recognized 61-year-old John O’Grady as the same person who stole an iPhone 10 form the store days earlier. The store called police to issue a trespass warning, according to an arrest affidavit.
Body camera footage shows officers’ interactions with O’Grady in the store. When the officers approached O’Grady, they noticed he was wearing a U.S. Marshal lapel pin and asked if he was armed. He said yes, and told officers he was a “federal Marshal.”
O’Grady then told the cops he did not have identification on him, and did not have a phone number or name of his supervisor.
An officer ordered him handcuffed “until we figure out what’s going on,” saying, “You have a weapon, and you have no ID on you.”
That’s when O’Grady admitted the gun on his hip was fake and said he was not actually a U.S. Marshal, but a limousine driver.
“Oh, you’re not?” an officer replied. “Congratulations, you just impersonated a police officer. That’s a federal offense… That’s a felony.”
Officers also found a fake U.S. Marshal’s badge, and determined that the weapon was actually a BB gun.
Police charged O’Grady with impersonating a law enforcement officer as well as grand theft.
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