Law enforcementMan purchases FBI, CIA, and Chicago police badges online
Last month a man was arrested after airport screeners at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport found a Chicago police badge in his baggage; a search of the man’s apartment revealed that he had obtained more than fifty federal, state, and local law enforcement badges from agencies including the Illinois state police, the FBI, the CIA, and the Cook County Sheriff’s Department.
Army MP Inauguration badge available online // Source: policebadgestore.com
Last month a man was arrested after airport screeners at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport found a Chicago police badge in his baggage.
A search of the man’s apartment revealed that he had obtained more than fifty federal, state, and local law enforcement badges from agencies including the Illinois state police, the FBI, the CIA, and the Cook County Sheriff’s Department. In addition investigators found a full Chicago police officer uniform and three police broadband radios, one of them had been tuned to listen in on the Carol Stream police department.
“It was really ridiculous. We had the FBI come in, the DEA, and all these people that were looking at whatever badges he had from their jurisdictions,” said Ken George, the Carol Stream police commander. “I don’t know there will be any federal charges on this. That’s up to them.” The man, Miguel A. Diaz, insists that he was a collector and that he always wanted to be a police officer. He explained that he purchased the badges online from a website that required orders be routed through other states before being shipped to Illinois. Diaz said the he purchased the other law enforcement equipment at Kale Uniforms stores in Wheaton and Chicago, where Diaz posed as a police officer.
On Tuesday, Diaz was indicted on charges of false impersonation of a peace officer and the unlawful use of identification cards.
Diaz was reported to be employed as a security guard before his arrest. Since his arrest, the company has fired him.
