President Joe Biden and his wife are probably not sleeping soundly after FBI arrested two imposters fooled Secret Service agents. At least one of the Secret Service members hoodwinked for about two years belonged to a White House detail.
Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 36, were arrested Wednesday at a Washington, D.C. apartment complex where many federal law enforcement agents live.
According to the probable cause affidavit justifying the arrest warrant to arrest Taherzadeh and Ali, they posed as Department of Homeland Security agents since February 2020. They are not, according to a government court filing, employed by any U.S. government agency. The warrant was issued by the Washington, D.C. District Court Wednesday.
The pair of imposters reportedly gave “gifts or favors” that included loaning a vehicle to one woman, whom they had previously given a generator. Taherzadeh allegedly offered to get AR-15-style rifle valued at around $2,000 for her husband — a Secret Service agent assigned to Jill Biden’s protection.
According to a LawandCrime report, the fake DHS agents gave other, expensive gifts. The report noted that government court records allege:
“Specifically, Taherzadeh has provided members of the United States Secret Service (USSS) and an employee of DHS with, among other things, 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. Taherzadeh also offered these individuals use of, what Taherzadeh represented to be ‘official government vehicles.'”
The agents have been suspended ahead of an investigation, the BBC reported, will be “restricted from accessing Secret Service facilities, equipment and systems” while under investigation.
In an embarrasing twist, it wasn’t the FBI, Secret Service or DHS agents who unravelled the years-long deception.
A Post Office Inspector began an investigation last month after a mail carrier was reportedly assaulted at the apartment complex where the imposters lived.
Other residents of the building told the inspector Ali Taherzadeh identified themselves as DHS special agents working in undercover gang-related investigations.
The Post Office investigator notifed the DHS about the imposter’s relations with the Secret Service agents. The DHS, according to the affidavit, then informed the FBI, which led to their arrest.
They are scheduled to appear in court Thursday.
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