Man who posed as a federal agent is sentenced to nearly three years in prison
A Washington, D.C., man who posed as a federal law enforcement officer and rented luxury apartments for which he did not pay rent was sentenced Friday to 33 months in prison, federal authorities said.
The man, Arian Taherzadeh, 41, had falsely claimed to be a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security, a former U.S. Air Marshal, a former U.S. Army Ranger and a member of a federal task force that worked in multiple jurisdictions, among other things. bogus dockets, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a press release.
Mr. Taherzadeh and a co-conspirator, Haider Ali, 36, of Springfield, Virginia, used these false claims to recruit others to his law enforcement company, which they called the United States Special Police LLC and falsely described as a private law enforcement organization. agency affiliated with the federal government, according to court documents.
Mr. Taherzadeh used the false claims to recruit others to join his company and to defraud the owners of three D.C.-area apartment complexes by providing him with multiple apartments and parking spaces for the alleged law enforcement operations, federal authorities said .
Mr Taherzadeh also installed surveillance cameras outside and in his apartment in one of the complexes.
He installed, maintained and used cameras in his bedroom, among other things. He used these cameras to record women engaged in sexual activity and showed the explicit videos to third parties, federal prosecutors said.
Mr. Taherzadeh had pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy, a federal crime, as well as unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device and voyeurism, which are criminal offenses in the District of Columbia, authorities said.
The potential consequences of Mr. Taherzadeh’s actions supported a significant sentence, Matthew Graves, a U.S. attorney, wrote in court papers.
“The defendant’s conduct was sophisticated and his schemes continued for many years and victimized countless people and businesses,” Mr. Graves said in an October filing. “His false association with law enforcement, coupled with his improper relationship with the Secret Service, had the potential to cause significant harm, including to the security of our country.”
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also ordered Mr. Taherzadeh to pay $706,218 in restitution and serve 36 months of supervised release following his prison sentence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Michelle Peterson, Mr. Taherzadeh’s attorney, declined to comment Sunday evening, but in a filed court document she said: “Mr. Taherzadeh recognizes the seriousness of the crimes he committed and is prepared to accept the consequences of his actions.”
Mr. Ali was sentenced in August to 68 months of incarceration, followed by 36 months of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution of nearly $758,000.
The two men ingratiated themselves with U.S. Secret Service officials to lend credibility to their plan, prosecutors said.
Mr. Taherzadeh gave the employees gifts, the Justice Department said. In one case, he provided a Secret Service employee and his wife with a generator and a “doomsday” survival backpack.
For about a year, he provided at least two other employees with rent-free apartments. One received a penthouse worth approximately $40,200 in rent and the other an apartment worth an estimated $48,240. Other gifts included a drone and a gun safe, according to prosecutors.